#told lin about vegas | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hoodharlow · 1 year

Text

The Week After

AN: i hate writing angst bc I can't do the making up justice. Thiswas rushed so it sucks 😭😭😭

Requested? No

Warnings: awkward making up, injuries (spoiler Miriam hurts her bad knee whilst performing), Neelam being a b-word and Miriam telling her off 🤭🤭🤭 and

Word Count: 5.7k words

The minute she arrived at the restaurant, Miriam felt something off. She was in Las Vegas for the Grammys. After the Oscars she flew out with Mede and baby Sebas because she had rehearsals for the performance. The cast was going to do a medley of ‘96,000’, 'Blackout', and ‘Carnaval del Barrio’ which timed out to roughly ten minutes. Doja and SZA had to drop out from performing because of SZA's injury so the organizers told the cast of the movie that they were allowed to have a long performance.

The news threw Miriam off. She had been focused on re-memorizing her solo from '96,000' and now she had to remember snippets of three different songs along with their stage cues and choreographies. On top of that Miriam felt an added pressure because Lin Manuel Miranda invited the original actor who played Vanessa to replace Stephanie Beatriz and now Miriam had to perform alongside them. She knew she couldn't fuck up.

Her friends sensed her tension and planned a girls night featuring baby Sebas. They also flew out Claudia, who was a mess because 5sos went on tour in Europe and she missed Calum. They were going to eat their weight in pizza then go back to their airbnb and have a Bring It On movie marathon. One thing though, Miriam wondered why they had to go out. They could have easily ordered delivery, but Mede convinced her that going to a pizza parlour was funner. So they agreed to meet at the pizza parlour after rehearsals, leaving Miriam even more confused because Mede and Claudia took an Uber when they could have gone with her and Beto.

“This is the place?” Miriam asked Beto when he opened the door to the pizza parlour entrance.

He nodded in response. "That's what Mede sent me."

"Okay," she nodded as they entered the restaurant.

"Hi, welcome. Just the two of you?" The hostess greeted them.

"No, my friends are already here." Miriam told them. "She called and made a reservation earlier."

"Oh you must be part of the Gutierrez and Wyatt party. They're our only reservation tonight, right this way." The hostess said, grabbing a menu.

"Gutierrez and Wyatt?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

As the hostess Miriam caught sight of two brunettes and a certain blondie in a booth hiding behind some menus, trying to be discreet. Their cover was easily blown when baby Sebas stood on the booth's bench and waved at her. She waved back and went up the steps to the private room. She looked over her shoulder and saw Beto take a seat next at the table where Jack's bodyguard was.

Miriam silently cursed. She couldn't believe she was set up by them. She wasn't ready to face Jack. She knew she'd give in instantly and forgive him for the mess that went down at the afterparty. She was too horny and would drop to her knees at the sight of him. She prayed that he didn't wear gray sweats.

"Here's your room. I'll send someone over to get your drinks started." The hostess said, holding open the door for her.

"Thanks." Miriam smiled.

They closed the door, leaving the couple alone. Jack awkwardly stood by their table. He hadn't seen or talked to Miriam in four days. Every time he’d text or call her, Mede would reply in her place with a sarcastic remark and let him know she was busy. He only knew Miriam was Vegas because she posted herself with her friends at one of Guy Fieri’s restaurants the previous night. Then earlier in the day she posted a video of herself and Anthony Ramos recreating a scene from ‘Blackout’ that was briefly a trend on Tiktok.

He commented ‘🙌🏻’ on the video but she ignored it. Which drew attention because before people found out about them they would always interact in each other's comments. People also noticed that Miriam deleted all her posts of her and Jack and started making theories that they broke up and were trying to save face at the Oscars. She tweeted ‘there’s no point of me keeping posts about my mystery bf if y’all already know who’s fucking me lol.’ That gave him hope that he and Miriam were going to be okay.

Jack knew he fucked up big time. He was so blinded by his jealousy that he didn’t see three other people in the picture. Miriam was on one end with Eugenio Derbez and their Oscars while Shawn was on the other end with Sebastian Yatra. He felt like an idiot and Miriam had every right to be upset with him. He reacted irrationally and ruined her night.

He was so focused on the fact that he was in the presence of Miriam that Jack was nearly tackled to the ground. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face into his chest. Jack, unsure on what to do, hugged her back. He rubbed her back as she hugged him tighter and broke into soft cries.

"I shouldn't have given you that ultimatum." She said between sobs. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hi, my name is…” A server began but stopped seeing Miriam crying. “I’ll come back in a few minutes.”

Jack guided her to the booth's bench and sat her down. He pulled a chair and sat in front of her. He watched her reach for a paper napkin and blow her nose.

"Sorry," she sniffled, "I shouldn't have gone up to you like that. I know you're mad at me–"

"Miriam, you shouldn't apologize for anything.” he said, taking her hands in his. He rubbed her knuckles with his thumbs. “You were right. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. I called my therapist the day after and told her everything. She said I was so blinded by my own jealousy and insecurities that I made up some shit to try to justify why I felt so jealous. It was fucked up of me to project all of that on to you.”

“I guess, but I also shouldn’t have reacted the way I did with Anitta.” Miriam said. “Urban told me how she sat on you and got off before you could even react.”

“I’m sorry… for everything. I ruined your night. And–and…”

She placed her hand on his neck and brought his head down so their foreheads meet. “Can we just forget what happened last week? We can go back and forth on what we should have done better for a while. We were able to acknowledge that we both were both in the wrong and we’re working through it.”

“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “I really am sorry for what I said.”

“I know and I’m sorry for what I said.”

The couple stayed silent for a few moments. Their silence was interrupted by the server who approached them cautiously.

“Hi, are we ready to order or do we need a few minutes?” they asked.

“I think we’re ready.” Miriam said.

"We'll have the baked alfredo pasta, six plain wings, and half meat lovers with jalapeño half barbecue chicken with extra crispy onions." Jack told the server. He looked over at Miriam and saw the eyebags under her bloodshot eyes. It was obvious she hasn't been sleeping and she's overworking herself. "Actually, is it alright if we make our order to-go?"

"Of course, let me just write this on the to-go notepad." They said, scratching off what they wrote. "Follow me to the paying booth and we'll have that out in half an hour."

Jack got up and let Miriam go first so he could admire her ass in the slip dress she wore. His attention went to her legs, noticing that she wasn't walking normally. She walked with a slight limp, not putting pressure on the knee she injured when she was younger.

He leaned into her and in a hush tone he said, "I haven't fucked you and you're already limping."

"I told you I don't need you, to get fucked senseless. I can do that myself." She whispered. Jack frowned, making her giggle. "I'm kidding. We've been doing six hour rehearsals and my knee is acting up because of the dancing. But I'm okay."

"Don't work yourself too hard."

"I won't, that's your job, Jack."

***

There was a thrill about going down on Jack in a cramped broom closet ten minutes before he went on stage. Jack and Miriam couldn't make it to his dressing room and back, so they settled for a quickie in there.

"I told you I only needed five minutes." Miriam said, lifting her arms so Jack could help her up.

"I was practically coming in my pants when we got in." He said, adjusting his cock back in his boxer-briefs.

"Thanks to me." She said innocently.

Jack rolled his eyes and reached for her hands to help her up. She was sitting in a deep squat so her knees wouldn't be touching the ground because who knows who's been in there.

Miriam thanked him and washed her hands in the mop sink. She fixed her skirt and pulled up her top to cover her breasts. When she was going down on Jack, he kindly asked her if she could have them out. Her whole outfit was from Katalina.

She flew in with their grandparents earlier in the day since their parents and brother couldn't make it to the Grammys to support Miriam. Mateo was in Korea in hopes that the salsa company could start selling salsas in Asia. Isabela was in London filming and Joseph was in New York filming as well.

When Katalina saw Miriam wearing a custom dress she made her change immediately. There was nothing wrong with the dress, it just wasn't appropriate for a club. Katalina let her borrow a black mini skirt with a slit down the left thigh and black off the shoulder long sleeve bandeau top, both from Mônot. In addition to strappy heels that wrapped around her legs.

Miriam felt a bit uncomfortable with the ensemble. It wasn't her style, but she got more confident of her outfit when Jack couldn't keep his hands to himself and all he did was whisper obscenities in her ear.

Miriam walked out of the broom closet first and looked around to make sure the coast was clear. She knocked three times letting Jack he could come out.

"There you are!" Winnie called the couple. "We've been looking for you guys. We're gonna do a prayer before you go on stage, Jack."

Jack and Miriam shared a look. But before they could respond, a few others joined in and started praying with Winnie. Luckily it was a short and sweet prayer.

"I'm gonna get mic'd up. I'll see after." Jack said.

Miriam nodded and gave him a chaste kiss. "Love you."

"Love you." He said back, pulling her to another kiss.

Jack was ushered by the crew members so Miriam went back to the VIP area. She flashed her pass and went to where Mede and Katalina sat.

"I see why, Claudia volunteered to watch your baby." Miriam said, eyeing Jocy J and Anitta taking tequila shots with Neelam a few seats away.

"I know," Mede agreed. "I wonder how they became friends because they—wait where have you been?"

"I've been around." She shrugged.

"Miriam, you have something white on the corner of your mouth and your tit." Katalina said, gesturing to Miriam's face and chest.

"Shit." She cursed. Miriam forgot that with blacklights, bodily fluids can be seen.

"Girl," Mede cringed. "Now everyone knows you've been giving head."

"Shut up," Miriam mumbled, grabbing a makeup wipe from her purse to clean herself. "Ya?"

"You're good." Katalina nodded.

Miriam helped herself to some of the tequila in the bottle service that her sister was paid for.

"Did you fucking pay for that? Of course you didn't. You're some rich entitled brat that thinks everything is at your service." Neelam asked her, her breath reeking of cheap vodka.

"Neither did you or your friends, so back the fuck off." Miriam snapped at her.

She was not in the mood to deal with Neelam. She finished making her tequila and cola mix by squeezing some lime on it.

"What was that all about?" Katalina asked.

"She doesn't like me, but it's whatever." Miriam said, gulping down the drink in one swallow.

"Have you told Jack about it?"

"Kat, can we drop it? I'm here to relax and try to shake my ass."

"Girl we're gonna need a miracle for you to be able to shake your ass." She teased.

Miriam gasped. "Bitch!"

"I'm playing."

The sisters laughed and started dancing to the DJ. After a few songs Jack finally came on. Miriam cheered loud enough that he turned around and grinned at her before rapping. She fixed herself another cocktail then another.

At some point she lost track of the cocktails she had. She stumbled over to the set up and made herself a chafita version of a moscow mule. She took a generous sip and poured more vodka, but she missed her cup and spilled it on the table. Despite the loud speakers and music, she heard a few snickers and huffed laughs. Miriam looked over and it was Neelam and Anitta.

"What does Jack see in her?"Anitta said, eyeing Miriam’s outfit.

"I ask myself that everyday. Jack has such shit taste. Miriam is so fucking pathetic and ugly. It's clear money can't buy you class, but it can buy off people for you to win an Oscar for stupid ass movie." Neelam said to Anitta, loud enough for Miriam to hear. She continued. "Aw look at her, when will she realize that the only reason why give her the time of day is because she's a lesser version of her mom."

"Can you two behave? Shit talking in public is pathetic." Katalina said, having heard enough.

"Aw, you have your sister to defend you since you're so defenseless." Anitta taunted.

Katalina said something in Portuguese, immediately shutting up the Brazilian singer. "Miriam, let's sit down and have some water."

"Fine." Miriam set her drink down.

"Run along and hide behind your sister's shadow." Neelam waved her off.

Miriam pulled away from her sister's grasp and walked up to Neelam. "I hate to be the one to tell you this but the only reason why all of these people act buddy-buddy with you is because your name is attached to Jack. If it wasn't, no one would give you the time of day. So be cautious of how you act around these people because they won't hesitate to make a mess and blame it on you. You are nothing without Jack so you better learn your fucking place."

"Don't talk to me like that." Neelam snapped. "I own Jack. I have the power to keep him away from you and we all know he'll do my bidding because he's a spineless weasel willing to do whatever to make it."

"Just remember I also have power in a more damaging way than you. With a simple wave I can have you removed. With a simple tweet, I can ruin your reputation. What I say fucking matters. You're just Jack's glorified babysitter." She continued. "I hope Jack wakes up one day and realizes the leech he has controlling his life."

"Miri, déjala, let's just go." Katalina said, getting in between her sister and Neelam.

Katalina has seen her sister get scrappy and knows how heavy handed she is. When Miriam bitch slapped, her face was red for a whole week. She’s seen her spar with Beto and seen her knock his 6’5 ass down effortlessly. Jack’s manager, who was probably five feet tall on a good day, doesn’t stand a chance.

She noticed Miriam begin to shake. Her chest rose frantically as tears rolled down her cheeks. She was at the brink of a panic attack. Katalina gently nudged her back and guided her down the steps where Mede was waiting with their bags. They went through the back where Beto was waiting for them. He helped them get Miriam inside the SUV.

"I have to call Jack! He's gonna be worried that I'm not there!" Miriam said, scrambling to get her bag.

"Miriam, you're shaking." Katalina said.

"I need to tell him I didn't– I…" Miriam burst into tears. She leaned into her big sister and sobbed uncontrollably. "Why does she have to be part of Jack's team?"

An hour and a half later, Jack finished his set. He took off his equipment and followed Chris, who was at the side stage during his set along with Urban and his brother, down the hall to his green room. When they walked in, the rest of his team was all huddled around a crying Neelam.

"What's up?" Jack asked.

"Your girlfriend is a fucking entitled rich bitch, that's what's up." KY said.

"Say that shit one more time." He said walking up to him, but Urban and Clay held him back.

"Everyone take a few steps back and calm down." Chris said sternly. He walked up to Neelam and his face scrunched up. "Did someone spill a drink on you? Because you know you're not supposed to be drinking when Jack is on stage."

"I had a few drinks." Neelam said defensively. "I'm sorry."

"The only person that should be apologizing is Jack's little girlfriend." KY mumbled.

"Don't fucking talk down to Miriam." Jack warned him.

"Or what? Are you gonna go Will Smith on me?"

"Can someone explain what happened?" Chris asked.

"Miriam went off on me." Neelam said. "I don't even know why. I was with Anitta and her friend and then she got in my face. She called a glorified babysitter, a leech and she said that I should know my place."

Jack stood there, trying to process everything. Miriam was pretty friendly even when she's drunk; she tends to get emotional and cry. She's not one to go off on people unless provoked. Jack's gut was telling him that there was more to what Neelam was saying.

He heard a knock and Winnie poked her head inside. "Hey, can we talk in private?" She said, waving Jack over.

"Yeah." He said, slipping away without being seen.

Once outside he asked her, "what's up?"

"Here's the receipt from tonight, don't worry Kat paid for it, but she left early with Miriam and Mede so I saved the receipt for them." She said, handing him a long strip of paper.

"You saw Miriam leave?" He asked her.

"Yeah. I know you haven't been in the industry long. And I'm saying this because I love you like a cousin, but you gotta keep your manager and friends in check. It was so unprofessional and rude of them to keep ordering bottles to our section without consulting me. Even some of your friends were sending bottles to random tables outside of our section. I was hosting a brand deal and half of the stuff I sent my team for approval to post was scrapped because of the other stuff that was in my pictures and videos.

Speaking of videos, a few of the ones I got recorded where you can hear your manager talking mad shit about Miriam. I couldn't hear as I was recording but my team caught them when they were sorting to see what was salvageable. As you know, everyone rides for Miriam. She's literally the moment right now and people would not hesitate to come for your manager and for you."

"Thanks for letting me know." Jack simply said.

"On a lighter note, you did amazing and have fun at the Grammys tomorrow. I'll be rooting for you and Nas." Winnie said.

They said their goodbyes. Jack watched her meet up with her boyfriend and other friends. Before he went inside, he looked down at the receipt and it was over fifty grand. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. He pulled out his phone and venmoed Katalina for what she paid.

Chris poked his head out. "Who was at the door?" He asked Jack.

"Winnie, she gave me this." Jack handed him the receipt. "Miriam's sister paid for it."

"Jesus," Chris cursed, seeing the total.

"Not to mention she was telling me that she couldn't complete her contract because the guys were ordering things that they weren't supposed to and Neelam was talking shit about Miriam in the background of her videos." He sighed.

"Neelam was talking shit about Miriam? You're kidding." His manager asked. Jack shook his head. "And she was drinking on the job."

"It's not the first time she does any of those two things. Is there a way we can fire her or something?"

"Unfortunately no, she's part of Generation Now and they're in charge of everything with tour and your album. You have a five album contract with them and you're barely on your second album rollout." Chris explained. "Our hands are tied."

Jack's phone buzzed. He pulled it out, hoping it was Miriam. It wasn't. Winnie had sent him some of the videos she recorded. He watched all of them and as he predicted Neelam was the one who instigated everything.

"Let's go inside and collect your things." Chris said.

"...she's got an ass and some tits but what else does she bring to the table?" Nemo said, not realizing Jack had walked in. The guys all cleared their throats, hoping he'd get the hint, but he didn't. He kept going. "Miriam is just some rich bitch who gets off making people feel like shit."

Jack had enough of people talking shit about his girlfriend, and played one of the videos. His phone had been connected to a speaker earlier while he got ready in the green room.

"'Miriam is so fucking pathetic and ugly. It's clear money can't buy you class, but it can buy off people for you to win an Oscar for stupid ass movie.'"

"Here's another one." Jack said, playing another video.

"'Did you fucking pay for that? Of course you didn't. You're some rich entitled brat that thinks everything is at your service.'"

"I got plenty more videos." He said, keeping his gaze on Neelam. "One where you call me a spineless weasel and another where you claim that you own me. I hope you know how lucky we all are that I got the videos. The person who sent them to me could have easily sold them and we all would have been fucked."

Everyone was quiet, watching Jack grab his things. He turned to friends. "You guys owe Miriam's sister fifty grand for covering your bottle service."

With that Jack left. His bodyguard guided him to the SUV. Everyone could take the van. He had originally planned on leaving in the SUV with Miriam and spend the rest of the night fucking each other, but after tonight he wasn't even sure she wanted to see him.

He pulled his phone out and checked his messages. There were several from Miriam, mostly gibberish. She doesn't have the best grammar when she's drunk. He got one from Mede, summarizing what had happened at the club. Jack locked his phone and sighed. Of course there's a shitshow the night before the biggest night of his career.

The following day was chaotic to say the least. Jack had been up since early in the morning. He went to pick his parents up at the airport and after he met up with Lil Nas X for rehearsals. They did a run through with the other performers. Next thing he knew he was being ushered out of the red carpet back to the trailers where all the performers were going.

“Isn’t that Mriam’s trailer?” his mom asked, pointing at the trailer with ‘Dominguez, M.’ on the door.

“Yeah, it is.” Jack said.

“Let’s go say hi.” Maggie said, leading the family to the trailer.

Jack smoothed his suit jacket and knocked. He was nervous. With how hectic today was, he hadn’t had a chance to talk to Miriam. Though they waved at each other when they were doing dress rehearsals.

“Hi!” Mede’s toddler said, opening the door.

Mede came trailing behind him. “Sebas, no abras las puertas sin mi.” she placed him on her hip and smiled at Jack and his family. “Hi, come in.”

She led them to the sitting area where Miriam’s sister and their grandparents were. Mede handed Sebas to Claudia and rushed to Miriam’s dressing room.

“Biiitch,” she said.

“What?” Miriam asked, deciding on what shoes she should wear for her performance.

“Your man and his family are here.”

“Say sike.” she frowned.

“I wish I was.”

“Fuck, okay. Let me just…” she picked up a pillow and screamed into it. She tossed it to the side and smiled, her right eye twitching. “Let’s go.”

Miriam slipped on her black red bottoms and smoothed out her dress. Soni designed a black off the shoulder gown with a sequin detailing material, full sleeves, embellished, and a very low cut sweetheart neckline. It was form-fitting with a straight skirt that reached her ankles and there was a slit in the back so she could walk.

When they left the dressing room, Jack and his parents were making small talk with her grandparents. Back in January, he met Miriam’s other grandma when they were in San Jose for his California shows. Mede went to Claudia and Katalina who were watching Sebas explain his Paw Patrol toys to Clay.

“Hi!” Miriam said, hugging Jack from the side.

“Hey.” he said, leaning down to kiss her but stopped himself.

“Wait, hold the pose.” Katalina said, with her phone out. “My mom said to get lots of pictures.”

Suddenly everyone pulled out their phones and took pictures of the couple. Claudia and Mede jumped in positioning the couple into corny prom poses.

“I think y’all got enough.” Jack told his parents. He turned to Miriam and quietly asked, “ can we talk?”

“I have to change. We go after Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak and–”

“Five minutes,” he insisted.

“Okay.” she nodded.

Miriam led him to her room.

“I’m sorry about last night. I got drunk–not that it excuses my actions– but I just…”

“Miriam,” Jack held her hands in his. “I’m sorry they said all that shit to you. It was unprofessional of Neelam to be even drinking and mingling. You’ve been tense from

“All I'm saying is that she’s lucky that Kat held me back.” she mumbled, making Jack snort. “Is she in trouble for drinking?”

“Yes, but because she’s technically part of Generation Now, me and Chris can’t do much. On top of that, I can’t leave the label because I have a five album contract with them.”

“You wanted to leave GN?” Miriam asked, confused.

“Yeah, the way they handle some things…is not ideal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for everything they’ve done for me, but…you know?”

“Yeah, I get you.” she nodded.

Miriam hugged him, squeezing him a little tighter. Even in her six inch heels, she was still short, so Jack hugged her head. He pulled away and leaned down to capture her lips. She moaned into his mouth. Jack’s hands made their way down to her ass. With both hands, he kneaded her ass and then pressed her down on the growing tent of his dress pants. Miriam held his face as she leaned down to kiss his lips. They moaned into each other's mouths as Jack kept moving Miriam’s hips on him. He held them in place and pushed his hips up for a different sensation. After what felt like an eternity, he finally let them go and wrapped his arms around her waist as they continued their makeout session.

There was a knock from her dressing room. Mede popped her head in the room. “Miri, one of the producers is looking for you. You have ten minutes to meet with the rest of the cast.” she said before closing the door.

“That’s my cue.” Jack nodded. He sponged kisses all over her face and pulled away. “Break a leg, superstar.”

Corey Hawkins carried Miriam after their performance and sat her on one of the giant boxes. The cast members all saw her fall. The adrenaline wore off and all Miriam felt was pain and embarrassment.

"What's going on?" Mede said with concern. When she saw Miriam rubbing her knee, she knew it was finally time to put her degree to use. She turned to one of the backstage crew members. "Let me look at her knee. I'm an RN, I got my bachelors from UCLA."

The crew member nodded and stepped aside so Mede could look at Miriam's knee.

"Hun, what happened?" she asked. She was watching from the backstage cameras but they didn’t show anything.

"My knee gave out when I hopped off the table during ‘Blackout’. I fucked up the performance!" Miriam sobbed. "What if I tore my ACL again and I have to get surgery again? I can't have that, I start filming this week and we're behind because they're waiting for me to come back. I don't wanna drop the project!"

"Miriam, I need you to breathe. Can you do that for me?" Mede asked her. She looked over her shoulder and saw a lot of people staring at them. She motioned Beto to clear the area for her.

"Hey, is everything alright?" Jack asked when he approached them.

He was front in center while she was performing. She was doing amazing as always, and hit her note in ‘96,000’ and when the lights went out for the song, he saw her miss the chair and fall on her bad knee. The rest of the performance she sang and danced with tears streaming down her cheeks.

Lil Nas X was behind him with a pair of crutches. "We saw you eat shit, so I stole these from SZA."

“Nas," he said, nodding over to crying Miriam.

"Shit, sorry." He mumbled, hugging the crutches.

“Babe, we have to go to the ER and get x-rays. You might not have torn anything but just to make sure you didn’t sprain your knee.” Mede told Miriam.

She nodded, there was no point in fighting it. Mede has this mom voice that just makes you do things. Miriam looked up, finally seeing Jack and Lil Nas X. More tears pooled around her eyes. She made grabby arms at Jack. He knelt down and wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back as she started crying again.

“I don’t wanna miss your lil dance.” she said, sniffling.

“It’ll be on tv.” Jack reassured her. They rested their foreheads against each other.

“Claudia is getting our things and she already told your sister and grandparents.” Mede said, reading from her phone. “Okay love birds break it up. We gotta make sure this one didn’t fuck up her knee.”

Jack pulled Miriam to a kiss. Mede and Lil Nas X watching the couple passionately make out like a couple from the 1920s when the guy is about to board a train that’s gonna take him to the war. A medic golf cart pulled up, making the couple pull apart. The medic came and checked out Miriam's knee, giving them the same response Mede gave them a few minutes ago.

The golf cart drove Miriam to another van where Mede and Beto rode with her to the hospital. Three hours later and several x-rays later, it was revealed that Miriam strained her knee. The past few weeks of hours of rehearsals really took a toll on her knee. But now she has to have her knee in a knee-brace and use crutches for two weeks. The ER doctor wrote her a doctor's note for her to give the production team explaining that she couldn’t do any running, stunts or any other strenuous movements that require her on her feet for long periods of time.

Beto drove her to the hotel where Jack was staying. Her family flew back to California after she begged them to. They wanted to go to the ER with her and see what the doctors had to say but she started crying again. They took the hint and went home.

Dressed in only his hoodie, Miriam mindlessly scrolled through twitter while she waited for Jack. She was trending, but not for what she thought she was. Apparently In the Heights won the grammy for best soundtrack, making her a grammy winner. A lot of people praised her singing. Other people pointed out she was crying so they assumed she was just being emotional until someone posted a video of her at the ER. Which grannerd more praise for her because she kept going.

She exited out of the bird app and went on Instagram. She pulled up several pictures and videos from when she was a kid and saw the Broadway production to when she was in the Oakland production of ‘In the Heights’ to when she filmed the movie to recently when she was rehearsing for the Oscars and Grammys. She wrote a long and sappy caption about how it was an honor to be a part of the musical. She also thanked Karen Olivo for being such an inspiration.

“Miriam?” Jack called her when he arrived at his suite.

After the ceremony, he went on a group dinner with his family friends and some of his team members. He was gonna ditch the dinner and go to the hospital, but Miriam made him go to the dinner.

“I’m in here.” she yelled from the bedroom.

He walked in and handed her a to-go bag. Mede texted him to make sure Miriam ate because she hadn’t eaten since lunch, so he brought her back some pasta.

“I asked them to make the meat sauce with Italian sausage.” he said, watching her look into the bag.

“I don’t want Italian sausage. I want some Kentuckian sausage.” Miriam said, reaching to undo his pants.

“Miriam, we’re not fucking.” he said, pushing her hands away.

“Why?” she began to pout.

“You’re injured.” Jack said, undressing and changing into sweats.

"I'm fine."

"We're not fucking in your condition, Miriam"

“I’m pretty tired. How about we go to bed with you inside me?” she blinked her eyes innocently at him.

“Fine but if you move, imma make you sleep on the couch.” he warned her.

Miriam gasped and touched her chest. “You’re gonna make me sleep there in my condition.”

Taglist: @cherryxcreme @heavyhitterheaux @carma-fanficaddict @youngharleezy @youngharleezyxo @babyharleezy @that-90s-girllll @alinaharlow @whywontyoulovemecami @meyocoko @harlowcomehome @nattinatalia @webinurcloset @gassyandsassy1 @jackharloww @awhoere4more @noescapricho-essentimiento

#jack harlow #jack harlow smut #jack harlow angst #jack harlow one shot #jack harlow fan fiction #jack and miriam

251 notes · View notes

yujeong · 1 month

Note

🎨,🦴, and 🪲 if you are willing! :))

Hi!! Thank you so much for sending me this, I truly appreciate it ❤️ 🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it I'm going to be super predictable here and share the cover for "The Knight's Pawn" that lovely @blackwatervial made for me during the KPTS Big Bang event. It's gorgeous and it brought me to tears with how much it conveys the general tone and characterization I wanted to present through my fic. Please go check it out, it's beautiful, I love it so much 🥹🥹🥹 Thank you again Lin for the millionth time 🥺 🦴 ⇢ is there a piece of media that inspires your writing? Hmm, that's a difficult question for me, because I only write fanfiction, so the piece of media that inspires me is, well, the piece of media I write fanfiction about haha. But, to truly answer the question in more general terms, music and poetry inspire me a lot, which is why sometimes my fics have lines in them that are a little more... melodic, I'd say. They have a rhythm, a pattern, they stick out a little from the rest. If my readers manage to distinguish them and, even better, like them, then I'm truly touched. (Sorry if my answer to this one is unsatisfying 😅) 🪲 ⇢ add 50 words to your current wip and share the paragraph here Hehe, I almost decided to add a few lines I'd written a few days ago, but you know what? Fine, I'm writing new words for this, why not?

One detail that had struck Vegas as odd had been how... clean the statue was. How the body had barely any marks on it. How the facial expression made Jesus look calm. Peaceful. Asleep. "Michelangelo wanted to portray the beauty of God through his work," his mother had told him. "That's why the body of Christ bears almost zero signs of what he went through." What a fool, Vegas thought, staring at the remnants of his cruelty on Pete's skin. His mouth was dry. His tongue tasted like sandpaper. There's no beauty to be found in suffering.

#I am aware I only had to write 50 words but I got inspired xoxo #so take a few more words I guess #I can feel the thing getting closer to being written but also not #I'll proceed to scream internally about it #while also laughing at the hypocrisy of Vegas here #I love the mess that is his mind so much #writers asks #fanfic writing #vegaspete #snippet

5 notes · View notes

the-firebird69 · 8 months

Text

Pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood to be prosecution witness in Georgia election case, DA says - ABC News

This is an odd character I don't know anything about him but it looks like a Will Ferrell. Then it's kind of like Will Ferrell drags his co-star into Talladega nights as a teammate and they're competing fiercely throughout the show and to get there they fought the step kids and he was buried in the guy or the movie he like takes over his wife and his his house and I don't think that's the meaning of it I think that's what they do and I think that they're powerful because they compete and they get there doing it because they're after that the rods are handles that come from one of the raceways and therefore these big huge hammers heads which seems like a waste of time because it probably is in other words the thorium is not a waste of time they're putting the handles together and walking around and hitting people with them is a waste of time it looks like that's what they're doing but I think that they were trying to break into something and we're interrupted by the two ladies in Vegas and may have been breaking into a lot of stuff using those hammers.

Zues

Good

Hera

There's a lot more going on but these two are huge pain in the ass and it looks like that too the movie The screwing around each other to get somewhere and that's what they're doing everybody knows it just doesn't care too much about these handals. They are thorium and need to be studied but they are scanned often and people know what they look like and walk around using them as a weird thing to do and they want to do that and seems to be on but it's odd but it's the way to take things. Have a grimacing and stuff but who cares it's such a weird thing to do. I'm going to shut these two down because they're so dumb and angry and mean and just won't shut up it's just a stupid thing to do so taking care of it as soon as armor walking around beating people up. That we're watching them and they're having a bad reaction it starts to figure something what else could they be using those for and doesn't make a lot of sense a small weapon but it would be that powerful so we are going after them because of such jerks and low lives and losers

Thor Freya

This is true we need help with these two idiots and we need them out of here we try to ton of stuff and we will try more but boy this is terrible. I told him we are there main cathedral was and spent like 5 minutes looking at it it was said we thought you were after the computer program is made below and they said they wouldn't leave anything they said good and the boys the one who went out to France no so we'll stare at it as they're leaving and they're going to go back but just so you know these people are dumb as hell I'll probably make a mess out of it

Hera

Zues

You don't need an old church you do need that and it's in a bunch of movies it's going to start up again I didn't get that stupid s*** out of there

Mac

I can hear the flow of things I just kind of big for me to evict everybody wants them out but they don't do anything about it I have to tell you if I try and evict him it's horrible to me for like a month then we visit it he revisits it and I have to go after him it's terrible I don't know what to do

Stan

We need a friend in tax and the friends of the benefits at the emperors using is too rough it's not necessary cuz there's acid to stop doing this stupid s***.

Mac

We already have and they just say no and act like they're oblivious to it so we are going to begin our attacks shortly and yeah we plan to attack them because of it you would too if you were talking about we want them out of the deserts and we're going to take basis they have it also going to attack their shield and we'll destroy part of it if you don't like it doesn't taste of our metal

Thor Freya

Heard a lot of bombs get and so forth so good crap. I know something else too this guy has things that can do things if you wanted he can have a monster throw a nuclear weapon at us so fast you wouldn't be able to track it with their land stuff I don't want to deal with this dumb s*** this idiots are doing is really a job here and these people don't know anything about anything you have no idea how to look at anything or discerning all they're doing is bothering him and the empire doesn't care maybe they will after they get romped

Mac

You don't think we will we'll probably just diminished to nothing and be happy with it

Ben Arnold

Good

Hera Zues

That's good and since the attitude it well get away with murder. Of you Ben Arnold

Olympus

0 notes

jimalim · 5 years

Text

I went to tag a reblog with "Marcus Lopez" but accidentally hit N spelling Narcus, and honestly it fits.

#hes a narc #told lin about vegas #marcus lopez #narcus #deadly class

5 notes · View notes

spidermaninlove · 2 years

Text

Tomdaya Timeline vol. 4

whLinks to vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 3, vol. 5, and vol. 6

December 26, 2021 - January 1, 2022 (approximate dates)

Tom and Z on a baecation along with Noon at The Madison Club in La Quinta, California. link link2 link3 link4 link5

January Euphoria Interviews

Z stated numerous times that Tom was very supportive during the filming of Euphoria season two. link link1 link2

January 3, 2022

Tom and Z once again spotted by fans at Matsuhisa in Beverly Hills. link

January 4, 2022

Tom in Las Vegas at CES 2022 for Uncharted promo.

January 5, 2022

Tom departed Las Vegas. link

January 6, 2022

During Euphoria press, Z said, “He (Tom) supported me through the whole season.” link

January 9, 2022

Z reposted to her story, a set photo with Tom in it. link

January 11, 2022

Tom was spotted at In-N-Out in LA. link

January 12, 2022

Tom spotted in Beverly Hills. link

January 13, 2022

Tom and Z went out to dinner with friends. link

January 14, 2022

If they were able to portal, Tom and Z would visit one another more often. link

Z gave Tom’s Prada post 5 😍! link

Z’s dad posted to his story the video clip of Tom and Z’s response about using portals to see one another more often. link

January 18, 2022

According to Dom, Tom is in London.

Kingston

January 18 - 23, 2022

There are numerous confirmed and unconfirmed sightings of Z with Tom in Kingston and London with friends and family, as well as just the two of them.

Confirmed:

They were holding hands while shopping on Wednesday, January 19. On Friday, January 21, they were very cuddly at a pub, and Z rested her head on Tom’s shoulder while they were there. link link2 link3 link4 link5

Tom and Z saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in London on Saturday, January 22. link4

Tom and Z were papped at his parents’ house on Saturday, January 22. link link2 link3 link4 link5

Tom and Z, along with Paddy, Nikki, Harry, and Latisha, arriving at the Palace Theater to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Saturday, January 22. link

February 5, 2022

Z’s grandmother, Daphne, allegedly told an esthetician she’s always on Facetime with Z and Tom. link

February 9, 2022

Z allegedly spotted Facetiming Tom at Safeway in the Bay Area. Tom called Z “babe”. link link2 link3

February 10, 2022

Tessa likes Z and Tom agreed when Z was called his other half on the BBC Radio 1 morning show. link

February 15, 2022

Tom and Z were papped holding hands and going out to dinner in NY. Tom was holding Z’s coat. link link2

February 16, 2022

Tom and Z papped out and about and shopping at Prada with Harry, Darnell, and Jack in NY. link link2 link3 link4

Tom and Z at their hotel in NY. link

Tom and Z departing their hotel to attend the Uncharted event at the AMC Lincoln Square 13 theater in NY. link link2 link3 link4 link5 link6

Tom and Z leaving the Uncharted event. link

February 17, 2022

It appears Z purchased a Bulgari B.Zero1 ring for Tom. link

Tom and Z attended the Rangers vs Red Wings NHL game at Madison Square Garden in NY. link While at the game, they bought Rangers jerseys. link2 link3 link4 link5 They were photographed holding hands during the game. link6

Tom was wearing a “Zendaya” Rangers jersey and Z wore a “Holland” jersey. link link2

February 21 - 22, 2022

Tom surprised Z by by flying from NY to Rome. Note: He had a connecting flight in London. link link2 link3 link4

February 23, 2022

Tom and Z dined at Antica Pesa, a restaurant where Tom ate while he was in Rome for Uncharted. link link2 link3 link4 link5

February 23 and 24, 2022

Tom and Z arriving at the back entrance of her hotel in Rome. link

February 25, 2022

Tom and Z departed Rome -- Tom flew back to NY and Z returned to LA.

Tiktoker urfavesophiiaa, the girl who sat next to Tom on the flight from Rome to London, confirmed Tom’s lockscreen is a photo of him and Z. link link2

February 28, 2022

Z posted her Uncharted theater ticket to her story. link

March 11, 2022

Tom and Z were spotted at a hotel gym, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and DUMBO House. link link2 link3

March 20, 2022

Tom with Z in Boston. link link2 link3 link4 link5 link6 link7 link8 link9 link10 link11 link12

March 22, 2022

Tom and Z’s stylist, Law Roach, confirmed they are a couple. link

March 27, 2022

Z’s grandmother, Daphne, allegedly has a framed photo of Tom and Z on her table. link

April 2, 2022

Numerous sightings of Tom and Z in Hudson Yards near the Edge. They were also spotted at a nearby Starbucks. link link2 link3

April 9, 2022

Z had her nails done in NY. link Tom and Z spotted at Whipped Urban Dessert in NY and at RDJ’s birthday dinner. link link2

April 10, 2022

Tom and Z had dinner together. link

April 15-18, 2022

Z in NY. link Confirmed and unconfirmed sightings of Tom and Z dining at various NY establishments (Confirmed sightings: Planta Queen and Hawksmoor). link link2 link3

April 23-24, 2022

Tom and Z spotted dining out, strolling, holding hands, and having a pottery painting date in Boston. link link2 link3 link4 link5 link6 link7 link8 link9 link10 link11 link12

May 7, 2022

Tom and Z dined at Angela’s in Boston. link link2 They were spotted at a movie theater in Boston as well. link link2 link3 link4

May 28, 2022

Z with Tom at Soho House in NYC and at Times Square (near Broadway). link link2 link3

Confirmed sighting of Tom and Z at the Broadway play Come From Away. link link2

June 1, 2022

Z wishing Tom the happiest of birthdays

June 4, 2022

Tom and Z celebrated his and Darnell’s birthdays at Moxy in NY East Village. link link2 link3

June 11, 2022

Tom with Z at a Yvonne’s restaurant in Boston. link link2

June 12, 2022

Tom and Z in Massachusetts today. link

June 18-19, 2022

Z spotted with Tom in NY.

June 26, 2022

Tom with Z at Melba’s in NY. link link2 link3 link4 link5

July 2022

It appears Tom and Z fostered a dog named Pistachio. link

Tom and Z allegedly were with Beyonce and Jay-Z on a boat in Sag Harbor. link

July 1, 2022

Tom and Z leaving Terra restaurant and at a nail salon in NYC. link link2

July 2, 2022

Tom and Z at Savant Studios in Brooklyn. link

July 3, 2022

Tom and Z stopped by HYPEGOLF Clubhouse, and were spotted by a fan in SoHo. link link2 link3 They were spotted by another fan while eating at a restaurant. link4

July 5, 2022

Tom and Z leaving Radio City Music Hall in Rockefeller Center where Tom was filming TCR. link link2 link3

July 6, 2022

Z spotted on the TCR set today coming out of Tom’s trailer. link link2 link3 link4

July 13, 2022

Z required stitches on her finger that she cut while cooking dinner for Tom. link

July 14, 2022

Tom and Z stopped by Ruby’s Cafe. link

Z on the set of TCR in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. link link2 link3 link4 link5

July 15, 2022

Tom and Z had breakfast at Maman in Tribeca. link link2

August 4, 2022

Tom was knitting (Z knits) while en route to Budapest. link link2 link3

August 6, 2022

Tom in Budapest with Z. link

August 25, 2022

Tom departed JFK for Budapest. link

August 26, 2022

Tom in Budapest with Z. link link2 link3

August 27, 2022

Z and Tom rode scooters along the Danube River in Budapest. They also chartered a boat to cruise the Danube and enjoyed a fireworks display while on the river. link link2 link3 link4 link5 link6

August 28, 2022

Tom returned to NY. En route to NY, he stopped in London for a brief visit with his family. link

August 29, 2022

Z arrived in NY. link

September 1, 2022

Tom and Z celebrated her birthday at MAMO. link link2

September 2, 2022

Tom and Z were holding hands after grabbing coffee in NY. link link2 link3

September 8, 2022

Tom filmed TCR on location at Snug Harbor on Staten Island. Z was photographed at a nearby coffee shop where she was accompanied by Harry Holland . She was also spotted on set with Tom. link link2

September 10, 2022

Z departed NY.

September 12, 2022

Z texted Tom after winning her Emmy! link She also called Tom part of her loved ones. link2

September 13, 2022

Z returned to Budapest.

October 6, 2022

Tom took the Eurostar from London to Paris to see Z. link link2

October 7, 2022

Tom and Z at the Louvre in Paris. link link2 link3 link4 link5 link6 link7 link8 link9 link10

October 8, 2022

Tom and Z out tonight in Paris. link link2

October 6-9, 2022

Tom and Z stayed in the penthouse at the Bulgari Hotel in Paris. link

October 29, 2022

Alleged sighting of Tom visiting Z in Jordan. link

November 3, 2022

Law confirmed Tom and Z are a couple and have been secretly in love forever. link

#tom holland #zendaya #tomdaya timeline vol. 4

557 notes · View notes

azalea-in-wonderland · 3 years

Text

Daniela/Carla Interview Quotes

This is a compendium/compilation of interview quotes from both the writers and the actors about the Daniela/Carla relationship. Some of them are just so beautiful, I hadn’t read all these before I started hunting them down. Favorite part might be Stephanie talking about how it wasn’t hard to pretend to be in love with Daniela bc she had such a huge crush on Daphne already, lol. I’m also gonna add this to that massive “little details” post, just to have everything in the same place for easy reference. And I went back and edited in a few more things to that list that people mentioned in the replies, and some random little things I forgot before. As always, please tell me if I missed anything important!

******************************

With Camila, I just wanted to be able to focus on Nina's story a little bit more. So if she was in conflict with her dad [Kevin, played by Jimmy Smits], it helped focus that story. When we lost Camila, I therefore had to balance it out and really do work to elevate Abuela Claudia [Olga Merediz] and Daniela [Daphne Rubin-Vega] to even more powerful matriarchal positions on the block.

Speaking of Daniela, was her and Carla's coupling always meant to be more of a wink, or was there more initially intended for them as queer representation in the film?

It may sound counterintuitive, but actually it's like marriage representation because when I cut the character of Camila, I just didn't want any critic anywhere to be able to say they all come from broken homes. So I was like, I need a married couple because I don't want anyone to try to spin that on me. And so I was like, oh, Daniela and Carla. They're the married business owners, and they've invested their relationship and their marriage in building this business together. And so that just felt very easy.

https://ew.com/movies/in-the-heights-writer-quiara-alegria-hudes/

*****************************

From In the Heights: Finding Home (book)

******************************

LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA OPENED UP ABOUT HIS NEWEST PROJECT, IN THE HEIGHTS.

Gayety editor Caitlynn McDaniel sat down with the cast and creators to discuss filming in New York City, authentic representation, and a few new queer characters.

“Really it’s nothing more dramatic than Daniela and Carla, the women who co-own the salon, we just send them home together at the end of the night.”

In the original stage production, Daniela and Carla do not have a romantic relationship. But after Camila Rosario was taken out of the film adaptation, the creators wanted to make sure there was a healthy family dynamic still in the show. Miranda credits the change to the screenplay writer, Quiara Alegría Hudes, who chose to make Daniela and Carla a couple.

“It was a relationship that was already strong and already wonderful in the stage version of the show and we just kind of canonized that relationship and made them life partners in addition to business partners.”

https://gayety.co/lin-manuel-miranda-in-the-heights-cast-talk-queer-characters

*****************************

The two characters were portrayed as close friends in the original musical, though the sexuality of the two characters was not explored.

Daphne Rubin-Vega, who plays Daniela, told Broadway.com of the additions: “Carla and I are girlfriends; we’re partners…. we cohabitate, it’s safe to say.”

Jon M Chu, who is directing the adaptation, confirmed to the outlet: “We’re doubling and tripling down on that [storyline]!”

Referencing a song from the show, Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted: “Tell ‘em something they don’t know…?‍‍?‍?”.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2019/12/13/hamilton-creator-lin-manuel-miranda-lesbian-twist-in-the-heights-film/

**************************

MW: In the Heights has so much to say and show about community as a family, the family that you’re born to as well as your chosen family. What is the message that you take away from the film about the families that we make and love?

BEATRIZ: Well, you actually said it best, the families that we make and love, because some of us are lucky enough to be born into families that accept and love us as who we are, and some of us have to find our way to those families. But I think for those of us lucky enough to experience unconditional love from, whether it be blood relatives or friends or people that you’ve invited into your life that love you unconditionally, having that community, that family, that chosen family, really buoys you up as a human being.

The thing we all recognized after the last year and a half of struggling globally through this really difficult time was how much we really rely on human connection and other human beings. And so this film, it’s so strange, the timing of it, but I guess it’s a universal and timeless theme, this idea of family, connection, humanity, and how much we need and rely on each other. I’m so excited for audiences to see this film at this moment in time.

MW: Carla and Daniela obviously are a family unto themselves. Something I appreciate about their part in this story is that they’re fixtures in the community. They’re not in need of refuge, they provide refuge, they provide comfort to people.

BEATRIZ: Many times in media we are presented stories that are about queer characters that automatically connect with dramatic events or sometimes traumatic events, and just one way of seeing people is not all that they are. For example, as someone who is bisexual and grew up with not that much varied bisexual representation in film and television and media, what I thought of as bisexual was, “Oh, no.” I had this idea that, “I can’t possibly be this, because this is over-sexualized, hyper-sexualized, villainous, duplicitous. I’m none of those things, and yet I feel that I am and identify as bisexual, and yet the characters that are presented to me in the media that I’m consuming reflects back to me that I’m bad. That somehow, at my core, there’s something wrong with me.”

What’s really cool about [In the Heights] is that in this very subtle way, you see these characters that are this functioning, happy, loving pair that are pillars in their community, and, in each other’s company, they are the best version of themselves, and other people actually flock to them because they make other people the best version of themselves. How lovely and thrilling to have that be gently sewn into the fabric of this entire community. Abuela Claudia accepts and loves them, Usnavi accepts and loves them, all of the characters take them for who they are. There’s no judgment, there’s no questioning, there’s no, “Eew, I don’t know.”

There’s none of that, which is so refreshing to see that on film, because that’s what my life is mostly like. Most of my friends accept and love me just the way that I am, there’s no questioning or weirdness. Maybe there’s some curiosity, but there’s never any drama or trauma around it for me in my chosen family. In its subtlety, it’s so special.

MW: It seems subtle to me because I wake up with a man, but it won’t be so subtle to everyone that we meet Carla and Daniela waking up together, which is really great.

BEATRIZ: Waking up together, yeah. It’s so lovely to see. It’s so, “Oh,” it establishes it so perfectly, so beautifully, so quickly, and so clearly.

MW: The film diverges from the stage musical in several ways that we won’t spoil here, but one way is that Carla and Daniela were not presented as a couple in the stage show. So, especially as somebody who identifies as queer, how important was that change in the film for you? Would you have been as interested if Carla and Daniela were cousins or best buddies?

BEATRIZ: I didn’t know that that decision was made until I was already cast, so it was something that I was really excited about once I heard that Quiara Alegría Hudes, the writer [of both versions], was thinking about this idea that, “Well, they’re already partners at work, what about if they were life partners as well? They’re such a unit.” It made sense to her in this new iteration of the story to make them a couple. And, like I said, I was already cast. I wanted to be a part of this film really badly because it is such an incredible piece of art, and it was like a dream to think, “I could work with Jon M. Chu.” I just think he’s such a special, incredible filmmaker. I saw Crazy Rich Asians too many times in the theater. I just think what he does is so special, and only he does it that way. He’s got such a magical lens through which he views the world. And so when I found out that Quiara was thinking about making this change, I was so excited and so supportive, and just fucking pumped that there was a possibility that they might be a gay couple, and the fact that they ran with it, it speaks volumes to the filmmakers, the producers, everyone at Warner Bros. that trusted that [the] storyline fit in this world.

MW: How much did it help that for a lot of the work you were doing, you’re in partnership with a master of musical theater in Daphne Rubin-Vega?

BEATRIZ: I found out that she was cast the same day that I found out that I was cast. My agents told me on the phone, “Daphne Rubin-Vega is going to be playing Daniela,” and I lost my shit. I mean I absolutely lost it. I had pictures of her all over the back of my bedroom door when I was a teenager. Rent was one of the first times that I really understood that there was a possibility that I, too, could be an actor, that I could do this as a profession and succeed, because she was so phenomenal in that role, and it was this worldwide moment where her talent — the talent of everyone in that show — but her talent and what she brought to the role by being herself, everyone saw it. Everyone acknowledged that that was a seminal moment in American theater and in American theater history, and it just made me feel like it was possible for me, too. She was an idol of mine.

I was a fucking mess the first day of rehearsal. I was just like, “Oh, no,” because I was so — I don’t want to say intimidated, because she’s not an intimidating person, but I was just so nervous to meet her. It was meeting one of my idols. And then to work with her was so amazing, awe-inspiring, eye-opening. She has a very different process than I do, but I learned a ton by watching her. She’s incredibly professional, and her voice sounds just amazing in this film.

I’m so excited for her to have this moment on film because she is so good, and she’s so good in this role. It’s really amazing. It’s like watching a priestess or something at work. You’re just watching something that you’re like, “I don’t understand how you’re doing this, but I can’t take my eyes off of you.”

MW: The word that came to me as you were describing that was “undeniable.”

BEATRIZ: Undeniable, yes. She’s an undeniable talent, presence, human being. She’s incredible.

https://www.metroweekly.com/2021/06/stephanie-beatriz-brings-queer-representation-to-in-the-heights-and-bids-farewell-to-brooklyn-nine-nine/

****************************

Stephanie Beatriz is intimately familiar with the power of media representation. Growing up, she was inspired to become an actor by Daphne Rubin-Vega, who was the first Latina on Broadway she connected with. Now, because the universe has a wonderful sense of humor, she’s starring as Rubin-Vega’s partner in what’s sure to be the movie of the summer, Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights, based on Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s Tony Award-winning musical about a Latinx community in Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood.

“The soundtrack of Rent [in which Rubin-Vega played Mimi] really provided me a doorway in to see the musical,” Beatriz remembers. “My family didn’t have money to go take a trip to New York so I could see a Broadway show, but I could get the soundtrack at the library and listen to it over and over.”

Unlike in the stage version of In the Heights, in the film, Beatriz’s character Carla is in a lesbian relationship with Daniela (Rubin-Vega), the owner of the salon she works at. For Beatriz, it was a full-circle moment.

“I grew up with a poster of [RubinVega] on my wall,” the bisexual actress confesses. “I had the cover of Newsweek that she was on with Adam Pascal taped to the back of my door in high school. And to me, she’s really legendary. So to make the jump as an actor to being in love with her was not hard for me at all, because she’s charming, very distinct, specific, beautiful.”

Beatriz adds, “I layered that in as much as I could, especially if Daniela is talking.” So it wasn’t difficult for Beatriz to portray her character Carla as “enraptured, glued, like it’s a master class, just watching it all unfold, watching Daniela’s personality take over the space of a room and the ambiance.”

She continues, “Any time Daniela might have a doubt, it’s Carla who steps up to the plate and tells her, whether it’s in her ear or out loud to everyone in the room, ‘You got this.’ I just loved that very much because I think that’s a real characteristic of a healthy relationship — one in which your partner sees the possibilities in you, sometimes when you don’t even see them yourself, believes that you are incredible, amazing, talented, the Lady Gaga list.”

Beatriz is especially excited to play a queer character in a movie where there’s no homophobia. When you see scenes with Carla and Daniela together, especially in the salon, you see, “lots of different shades of people, lots of different shapes of people, and different sexualities, and different expressions of self. That’s a safe space,” she says. “I think in many communities, the beauty parlor is a safe space, especially in Latino communities.”

It’s refreshing for the film to invite viewers into the life Daniela and Carla have created where everyone around them is accepting, “whether or not we know about their extended families is not the point of this,” Beatriz says.

“It’s really the family that they’ve created, the home that they’ve created in Washington Heights, is an accepting, loving place where they thrive.”

https://www.out.com/print/2021/6/09/stephanie-beatriz-helping-queer-latina-visibility-reach-new-heights

************************

But Chu and screenwriter Quiara Alegría Hudes have also crafted another new, inclusive element with two beloved characters.

Beauty salon owner Daniela and hairdresser Carla, while portrayed as coworkers and gossip buddies in Lin-Manuel Miranda and Hudes’ stage musical, will also be romantic partners on the big screen. Rent Tony nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega and Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Stephanie Beatriz play the two, respectively, in the movie.

Chu and Rubin-Vega had previously confirmed the evolution of the characters’ dynamic. At a recent press event celebrating the release of the latest two trailers, Beatriz discussed the significance of the decision. “What was so gratifying to me as a person who is queer is to see this relationship in the film be part of the fabric of the community,” Beatriz says, “and to be normal, and be happy and functioning, and part of the quilt they’ve all created.”

She continues: “So much of this film is about where home is and who home is to you. And for Carla, Daniela is home. Wherever Daniela is, that’s where Carla feels at home.”

https://www.playbill.com/article/in-the-heights-stephanie-beatriz-on-introducing-queer-element-to-the-movie-with-2-fan-favorite-characters

*************************

Rubin-Vega said she had no interest in playing any trope of what one might think a lesbian Latina might look or act like, noting that the queer experience isn’t monolithic, while expressing that the role offered her a newfound freedom, especially with regard to being present in the role and in her everyday life.

“Spoiler alert! I felt like not wearing a bra was going to free me. Did I get it right? Am I saying that gay women don’t wear bras? No, it was just a way for me to be in my body and feel my breasts. To feel my femaleness and celebrate it in a more unapologetic way,” she said, laughing. “To be honest, I was really looking forward to playing a lesbian Latina. It’s something that I hadn’t really explored before. Latinos [can be] very homophobic as a culture, and I wanted to play someone who didn’t care about homophobia; I was gonna live my best life. That’s a bigger thing. It’s also like, maybe I’m bisexual. Who knows? Who cares? If you see that in the film, that’s cool too, you know?”

https://encoremonthly.com/hitting-new-heights/

*************************

Let’s talk about your characters, Daniela and Carla. In the original Broadway production they ran the beauty salon together but their relationships has changed a bit for the movie hasn’t it, what do they mean to each other?

Stephanie: “They live together, they’re partners at work, they’re life partners, they love each other. To put a real clear stamp on it, they’re gay as all get-out! They’re gay, they’re queer, and they love each other and they’re this functioning, happy couple that work together, live together and have made a home with each other, for each other, and in each other. I personally love that it’s layered so subtly into the film because I think many times when we see queer characters, gay characters, we’re focusing on the stuff in their lives that’s hard for them and in this film, I think we’re focusing on the fact that, there’s hard stuff in the community for everyone, but there’s also joy and the ability to celebrate life, even though that hard stuff is going on around you.”

Daphne, as Stephanie mentioned it is quite subtle and I like that about it too. As their relationship isn’t explicitly addressed in the dialogue how did you express their love for one another and that intimacy through things like the body language and the dance as well?

Daphne: “Like Stephanie said, we were just a couple who care about each other so I think that that reflects in the body language. It was really wonderful to be able to have the freedom and ability to portray a character that loves who she loves without all of the sort of social stuff around it. They had to deal with adversity and challenges but being gay is not one of them.”

“Their gayness is also is not an issue for Abuela Claudia or Usnavi, or anyone else in the community. These are women who are loved and trusted, and respected; they’re protectors of their community, and kids are allowed in the salon, as are trans folks, whoever you are, if you want to get a weave, you can get a weave or nails, and who you sleep with, it’s so not about that.”

https://thequeerreview.com/2021/06/08/exclusive-interview-daphne-rubin-vega-stephanie-beatriz-on-their-queer-in-the-heights-characters-lgbtq/

******************************

Daphne Rubin-Vega is Daniela, the pint-sized ruler (with a massive-sized voice) of In the Height’s Washington Heights block. Perched from the top of her five-inch tacones as she delivers hot gossip and a loving touch in equal measure. In the original stage production, Carla (Beatriz) is Daniela’s comedic sidekick, working alongside Cuca (Orange is the New Black’s Dascha Polanco) in Daniela’s beauty salon. In the film, Cuca and Carla’s antics remain, but Carla is also re-developed as Daniela’s romantic partner with quiet, lived-in moments across the week of one block’s summer heatwave.

So the three of us got together as the sun was setting on the East Coast to talk about the history of Latinas and lesbians in musical theatre, welcoming the ancestors into our space, and finding love in the small moments of the everyday. (We talked over each other a bunch, but if you’ve ever sat across from a table of your tías and primas on a Saturday night in the summer, you already know the vibes.)

Carmen Phillips: First of all, I just wanted to say before we got officially started, I mean, I’m just beyond myself to be able to meet both of you! It means just the most to me. Daphne — I saw you in Rent when I was 12 years old and it was something that changed my life, which I’m sure you hear all the time and it’s not unique anymore, but it did.

Daphne Rubin-Vega: [brings hands together] Thank you. It’s a pleasure.

Carmen: Hi. Okay. We can start!

Daphne: Hi!

Stephanie Beatriz: Carmen. I’ve literally done the same thing to her. I feel I might’ve done it on the first day I met her. I was just… [is at a loss for words]

Carmen: I feel probably lots of people tell you that, but I will never get a chance to tell you.

Daphne: No, you’ve gotta tell me! Yeah.

Carmen: Thank you.

And obviously, Stephanie. I mean, you’re a huge… Autostraddle is just a very big fan, all the time, so you already know that. Thank you both.

I wanted to start this interview at sort of the beginning of the process. I’ve been trying to read what you have said thus far about playing Daniela and Carla but I haven’t seen anyone ask this.

Obviously both characters are presumed straight in the original stage production of In the Heights. When you auditioned or otherwise introduced to the roles, were you already aware that they were being re-imagined as queer women? Or was that something you found out after? What was that process like?

Stephanie: I found out after!

I found out that it was even on the table — it was, “This might happen” — And I was so excited! And I voiced how excited I was IMMEDIATELY! I was like, “I think this is a great idea. I absolutely support it 100%. If you try to do that, I’m 100% in support.”

Daphne: Yeah. Yeah. For me, I had already gotten the role and so Daniela’s sexuality didn’t factor into a performance at all. Her humanity certainly did.

So after I got the role… Quiara [Alegría Hudes] called me and said, “How would you feel if Daniela… Instead of Carla just being her business partner, she’s her life partner as well.” And I remember being jolted by the change and thinking, “Yeah, fuck yeah. Of course.”

Quiara never ceases to amaze me with her elevation of the storytelling and humanity in its different incarnations.

Carmen: I think this really brings me into this next question. Daphne what you were just saying — for you, it was about elevating this humanity. And in one of the interviews I’d been reading, Stephanie had the chance to talk about [the relationship between Daniela and Carla], and she said “So much of the film is about where home is. And for Carla, Daniela is home.”

Stephanie: Yes.

Carmen: That got me thinking about what a moment this is that you’re both of entering into.

I did some research in our database and from what we can tell, in all of film history, there’ve only been 18 movie musicals that have had lesbian or bisexual characters. Period. Not even 20!! And of course, when you start thinking about…

Daphne: I was in three of them.

Carmen: Oh You sure were.

Daphne: Oh, whoa.

Stephanie: That’s… I just…

Carmen: And there’s nothing like In the Heights, when we shift our focus to think about the history Latinx film. And I’m sure you all know, the entire community’s buzzing, right? My mom is going, it’s the first movie she’s going to see in a movie theater in 18 months.

People are just dying for it, and I think going back to the conversation about what home is… I’m wondering what it feels like, for both of you, to be kind of sitting in this historic intersection, right?

This is going to be a film that really is going to exist on a planet of its own. And we’re going to see queer Latinas represented in that moment. I wondered if that’s something you’ve thought about? Or if it’s not even a thing that’s on your plate at all.

Stephanie: I’ve thought about it a lot!

I’ve thought about how this moment means something — but it will be so much more meaningful in 5, 10, 15, 20 years, when even more titles are in that database. Even more of these films have been made, even more of these stories have been told. Even more of these characters have been represented on screen, in television, in film, in all types of media.

It’s very exciting to think that we could possibly be a part of… a moment of someone looking at these performances or this film and going, “Oh, of course. Oh yes, yes. Of course. Why not? What was I thinking? Of course that exists in the planet.”

That’s a really thrilling thing to have the privilege of being a part of.

Daphne: Yeah. I fully agree. I mean, as an actress, it’s what we do. It’s my calling to embody characters that are not like me, to represent the humanity of who they are. And I think, that’s a really loaded thing for me, in my culture [Rubin-Vega is Panamanian]. Not my culture, in Latino culture, in particular.

In my country of origin, I find it’s struggled very much with homophobia and racism. Colonization, it changed the entire country, right? That’s our history. So without putting judgment on it, I think it’s really incredible, what we’re able to do here.

And Stephanie said it before, how queer stories, or stories of people who were marginalized, are made to be othered in certain ways. The stories of those who aren’t centered are then either shown as dramatic or traumatic, she said.

And in this instance, it’s neither dramatic nor traumatic! It’s so regular, it’s so basic, it just is. It’s just… “Yeah.” Yes, and it’s really not that deep and so we’re not playing queer characters, we’re playing human.

Stephanie: Also queer.

Daphne and Carmen in unison: Yeah!

Stephanie: There are people who miss it, honestly! I’ve definitely had the experience where I’m perhaps reading a review or I’m listening to someone’s experience about watching the film and they’re not even… They’re not even… [gestures like a plane flying overhead]… “Whoop.” It just flew by their face.

Whereas, for those of us who were paying attention because we’re trying to find ourselves on film, we see it immediately.

Carmen: I mean, this interview will run the day movie comes out, so I don’t want to reach too far into spoilers. But there’s a scene! It’s before the opening number, right? It’s before “In the Heights” begins. It’s intimate, playful. And I zeroed in right away, I was like, “Oh, we’re really here.”

And I think… so much of the movie is moving in ways you don’t expect, because it is so the everyday. But we never get to see OUR every day on screen. You know what I mean?

Daphne: Yes.

Carmen: And Stephanie, the question I wanted to ask you is, obviously you are very aware of how, again revered — which is why I say these last two questions for last! — you are in queer women’s communities. There’s the iconic Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. And I think one of the things that everyone, at least everyone I know, is really excited about is to get to see you play a queer Latina again.

I was personally excited because it’s just a different way to use your comic timing. Carla’s very different from Rosa. I was very curious about what that felt like for you to create these two really distinct queer Latina characters.

Stephanie: That’s really kind, first of all. So thank you for saying that.

I think, one of the things that’s been really fun for me about the process of shooting In the Heights — and creating my iteration of that character — was that it brought me back to the feeling that I used to have in Repertory Company, when I did a lot of theater. And I’d have a season where I was playing a bunch of small roles in a funny, new comedy by Culture Clash. And then I also was playing Maggie the Cat in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Carmen: wow.

Stephanie: And then maybe the next season I was Isabella in Measure for Measure and also playing another… I mean, Rep Company really teaches you… It can teach you how to use yourself in all of these different kinds of ways. And it’s one of my favorite things about being an actor is kind of using different facets of myself to help create these characters and bring them to life. And turning up the volume on certain parts of my personality and turning it way down on other parts, right?

I’m really excited for audiences to see me in a different way, I guess, it’s cool.

And I’m pumped at the confusion factor that comes along with that, right. Because I think people get confused when they meet me in real life sometimes because they expect Rosa Diaz.

Carmen: Right.

Stephanie: And I’m excited for the confusion factor that will come with, “Wait, that can’t be the same person that plays that character, right?” I love that, I live for that. I live for the confusion of, “Wait a minute, what?”

Carmen: I knew you were going to kill it. When I heard you got cast as Carla, I was, “Oh, that’s perfect.” Because, I mean, I really think your gift for comedic timing, it’s unparalleled.

Stephanie: [mumbles to self] Thank you very much.

Carmen: And Carla’s a small part that, I mean, is already memorable. It’s a small part with a big bang. You know what I mean? Like that is… [Carmen and Stephanie crosstalk, there’s never enough crosstalk].

Stephanie: I’m lucky, I’m very lucky.

https://www.autostraddle.com/daphne-rubin-vega-stephanie-beatriz-in-the-heights-interview-daniela-carla/

******************************

Beatriz’s career is soaring to even greater heights this June, as she’s stepping into Carla’s shoes in In The Heights, which sets itself apart from the musical with a few key changes such as the decision to have Carla and salon owner Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega) be in a committed relationship. Beatriz considers it a “brilliant shift” to the original storyline. “To have Carla and Daniela be gay and layered into that community and be totally accepted, not struggling to be heard, or fighting because they’re out, or not being accepted by the people they love, but just part of the family, I just love that,” Beatriz explains.

It’s through LGBTQ+ representation in TV and film that Beatriz believes art can usher in positive change. It’s a discussion she is trailblazing with her refreshingly honest and nuanced portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters, like Rosa and Carla. “Art is the way to move humanity forward,” she says. “When you create art, there’s a possibility for creating empathy in other people. That’s really what it’s all about. You can’t start to see someone as your equal, or as a fellow human being that deserves all the same rights as you do, if you don’t see them in the first place. If you don’t see them anywhere around you, how will you know that they’re just the same as you? ... We really want all the same things in life: to feel happy, to be seen, to feel safe, to feel love. And we all deserve them.”

https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/stephanie-beatriz-pride-advice-pregnant-brooklyn-99-in-the-heights

******************************

Rubin-Vega says that incorporating the queer story, emphasizing the plight of Dreamers, and focusing on brown and Black communities is “decolonizing cinema" and she's here for it.

“What other way are we going to address the structural oppression that has been perpetuated? How are we going to move it?” Rubin-Vega says of storytelling as a tool. “It’s an honor to play a character that has a lot of life,” she says of Daniela. “As you know, when I was just starting in theater, these roles didn't exist.”

“To play a woman that loves another woman is an honor to me. The symbolism of the salon. It's like the spiritual liberal hub. It's also like the gossip hub,” she says.

“We're just finding the language with how they would dress. You know, having to stop the stereotyping right [of queer women and queer Latinx people]? Musical theater is so extra. What a wonderful way to have extra-ness. And you know, and not be offended by tropes that use tropes as a way in,” she adds.

“We [Daniela and Carla] love each other … [it’s] ordinary, not extraordinary. It's just normal that these women get to be fully unapologetically in a community that we know has baggage around all the phobias, baggage around all the cultural trauma.”

Miranda’s story has always been about the beauty of a community and home — Rubin-Vega likens his rhymes to the impact of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter.

In an interview with Broadway World, Beatriz says, “So much of this film is about where home is and who home is to you. And for Carla, Daniela is home. Wherever Daniela is, that’s where Carla feels at home.”

Rubin-Vega concurs. “I could not put it more beautifully than Stephanie. We didn't talk about our relationship. We just had the relationship,” she says. “Not only am I a fan of her work, but I'm a fan of hers. After knowing Stephanie, it's just like, Yeah, that's my girl. That's my boo. I feel that relationship ownership. I do have that I can honestly [say].”

A theater and film veteran who’s starred in Rent, Jack Goes Boating, Anna in the Tropics, and so much more, Rubin-Vega discusses the role of LGBTQ+ allyship.

“People in my life are [the] gay people in my life, like, a lot of people. I also have a bit of a hard time with the word ally because it is a verb, it's not a static noun. And [being an ally] is a constant behavior. It is a way of being in the world that is like breathing. And it's a consciousness for some of us more than others who have had been in so much privilege and living in supremacy.”

Daniela is presented as an integral piece of the Washington Heights community in Miranda’s story and Chu’s film. But the implications of that representation run deep. And Rubin-Vega has thought long and hard about it.

“Playing a lesbian — I can honestly think [about] my family legacy and just wonder how many unhappy ancestors I had,” who perhaps couldn’t live their authentic lives because of stigma, she says. “It's not something to get depressed about. It’s something to live toward when we represent our fullness.”

https://www.advocate.com/exclusives/2021/6/10/heightss-daphne-rubin-vega-ushering-queer-characters

******************************

In “In the Heights,” Rubin-Vega plays Daniela, co-owner of a neighborhood hair salon with her life partner Carla (Stephanie Beatriz). The two were made queer for the film after being portrayed as straight co-workers in the stage show. Screenwriter Quiara Alegría Hudes called to tell Rubin-Vega about the updated relationship. “She’s like, ‘How do you feel about that?’” Rubin-Vega recalls. “I’m like, ‘I’m loving it.’

“Daniela is a high priestess of bad-assery,” she continues. “She’s a part of the person that I aspire to be, which is fully herself, making no apologies for who she is. She probably has earned her right to claim her fullness — self-empowered, self-employed, she has her own business. She touches other people’s heads, which is kind of a sacred thing in our culture, that we let people touch our heads.”

https://variety.com/2021/film/columns/in-the-heights-daphne-rubin-vega-1234991860/

************************************

“Yes. Carla’s my life partner. There’s not a plot line about us being partners, but it’s very evident. Like, we’re just human beings that have chosen each other. So that there’s a representation."

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/the-scene/new-york-live/dishing-with-daphne-rubin-vega/3063551/

*************************************

Beatriz is also playing salon worker Carla in the new film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning musical, In the Heights. Beatriz, who is openly bisexual, is excited that her character is in a same-sex relationship with fellow salon worker Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega), in the film -- a change from the Broadway show.

"In the original production, Carla and Daniela were simply work partners, but in this iteration, [screenplay writer] Quiara [Alegria Hudes] and [director] John [M. Chu] and [original playwright] Lin-[Manuel Miranda] all felt really strongly that they should be life partners are well," Beatriz shared. "What's really great for me as someone who is queer, as a member of the queer community, who is bisexual, is to see that rep in a film where it's just layered into the community, sort of in the background. And they're this really functional, fun, happy, funny couple that just happen to be gay."

https://www.kmov.com/stephanie-beatriz-teases-what-brooklyn-nine-nine-fans-can-expect-in-shows-final-season-exclusive/article_208dd9b5-dde4-5814-9c17-2b5e3e8defac.html

************************

What do you find most interesting about Daniela?

Every shred of me was excited about playing this role. I'd worked with Quiara in Miss You Like Hell, and because of my history with Quiara and Lin, I knew about In the Heights and saw it. Daniela is such a powerful character. She's diminutive, but you can feel her presence whenever she walks into a room. It was interesting to further explore her relationship with Carla, her life partner and business partner, and her dynamic with Cuca and the rendition of the salon in a filmic way. There were no restrictions with Quiara, Lin, and Jon.

Women often have an ambivalent relationship with ambition, so it's interesting to think about it within the context of the movie. Was that something you thought of when you were shaping your take on Daniela?

I don't know if ambitious people call themselves ambitious. I consider myself ambitious, but what's the ambition? The ambition is to live a full life. The ambition is to live a complete, free, unapologetic life where I can love who I want to love and live where I want to live, do what I love to do, wear what I want to wear, and have friends I want. If that's ambition, isn't that the American way, the pursuit of happiness? I think that Daniela, because of her appearance, her attitude is amplified, but if she looked different, she'd be a regular strong chick. Her choices wouldn't be questioned; she'd be pragmatic. She's priced out of the barrio that she loves. She'll be present in some ways, but her business will be gone.

https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/interview-daphne-rubin-vega-on-portraying-daniela_92380.html

******************************

MW: Yeah, Carla is not Rosa at all. I would also say that your characters tend to sound distinctly different. How do you find a voice for a character?

BEATRIZ: I think that’s part of the fun. I spent a long time, as a kid, with lots of time on my hands. My parents worked a lot, and my sister and I would often come home and watch ourselves, and one of the things that we did at home was we had this Fisher-Price recorder. It was a little tape deck, and I don’t know where we got it, but you could put a tape in and record yourself. We had a few blank tapes, but we also taped over a lot of my mom and dad’s music — sorry, Mom and Dad — but we would record ourselves doing shows, like radio shows, where we would do different voices, we would interview ourselves, we would interview each other, we just screwed around.

But, in doing that, it was us finding funny and weird voices and stuff. That was the beginning of me acting, I think, playing around with that tape recorder by myself. And I think it’s just a really fun thing for me to do voiceovers and voices, and find my way into a character through sound. It’s one of the things that was so fun about being in In the Heights, was the music and finding my way into the character musically, and basing character choices on what Lin had already written in the music. I think that’s so fun. And the musicality of language is something that I’ve always been drawn to and interested in.

https://www.metroweekly.com/2021/06/stephanie-beatriz-brings-queer-representation-to-in-the-heights-and-bids-farewell-to-brooklyn-nine-nine/

******************************

The beauty of upper Manhattan is on glorious display at a hair and nail salon featured in the movie musical “In the Heights.”

Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz and Dascha Polanco help capture the culture and values of a Latino neighborhood in Washington Heights through the women who run the popular salon.

“They provide an example of how people in your community can become part of your family, really your chosen family, and that those people are deeply invested in not only seeing you succeed, but really seeing you thrive as a person,” Beatriz, 40, told the Daily News.

“They also provide this incredibly safe, loving space, particularly for the women in this story, but really for all of the characters. ... It’s this incredible place of celebrating beauty of all kinds.”

The salon serves as a central hub of the film premiering Wednesday at the Tribeca Film Festival before arriving Thursday in theaters and on HBO Max.

Adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical, “In the Heights” brings back the fan-favorite salon ladies Daniela, played by Rubin-Vega, and Carla, portrayed by Beatriz, while introducing Polanca’s Cuca as a new character.

The stars agree the salon represents much more than a place to get a makeover.

“It symbolizes dreams,” Polanco, 38, told The News. “Small-business owners. What we like to call iconic figures within our community. They’re like hood celebrities, legends, what can I tell you? They’re there, and they have everybody’s back.”

“In the Heights” takes viewers inside the colorful salon during the lively song “No Me Diga.” But the women are also depicted outside the salon as significant figures within a neighborhood where every resident strives toward big goals.

Daniela, Carla and Cuca kick off the standout song-and-dance number “Carnaval del Barrio,” during which characters sing with reverence about their homelands.

“It’s a celebration of life in the face of all kinds of adversity,” Rubin-Vega, 51, told The News. “This determination to be joyous, and how powerful that in itself is. Yeah, it is beautiful to see flags flying and everybody going, ‘Oh, there I am!’ But more than that, it’s just that feeling of belonging.”

The “In the Heights” stage musical introduces Daniela and Carla as work partners, and the movie updates their relationship to be life partners as well.

“It’s just part of the background of the film, and that’s really vital, I think, for [LGBTQ] audiences to see themselves be part of the fabric of the film, and not necessarily have their stories always be coming-out stories or always be tragic stories or always be stories that are fraught with drama,” Beatriz said.

The actors felt personal connections to their characters. Beatriz, who was born in Argentina, remembers her mother befriending fellow customers and staffers at the salon she went to after moving to the U.S.

Polanco recalls her visits to a local salon when she was young, and loves how “In the Heights” covers that aspect of the community.

“It’s what instills confidence. It’s what instills trust, and amongst these three ladies, that’s what they give back to everyone else,” Polanco said. “In this community of Washington Heights, this is where they go to release, to motivate, to express, to get advice, to make harsh decisions, to console. It’s a revolving door of what I [call] noncertified therapy.”

https://www.wyomingnews.com/features/movies/in-the-heights-stars-share-what-the-movie-s-salon-ladies-represent/article_e2f853ed-978a-562d-8aaa-fc48b73b709f.html

**************************

(Not specifically about the romantic relationship, but a great article about Daniela, Carla, and Cuca.)

Stephanie Beatriz, Dascha Polanco, and Daphne Rubin-Vega Are the Holy Trinity of In the Heights“

We were the witches with a cauldron, stirring the pot,” says Rubin-Vega of the trio, who reunited to chat about dance numbers, bodega orders, and the best kind of gossip.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/06/in-the-heights-stephanie-beatriz-dascha-polanco-daphne-rubin-vega

*************************

I love that your character is a part of this trio of neighborhood divas that are just so much fun. What was your relationship like with Stephanie Beatriz and Dascha Polanco and how much fun did you guys have together?

RUBIN-VEGA: Oh my goodness! Doing nothing with them was fun. Ad-libbing was fun. I don’t think anyone’s funnier than Stephanie and Dascha, and when they’re together, it’s just nonstop. There’s also a realness. We all come from places and spaces where we had to outlast the negativity to get where we got, so that creates a certain energy in a human being that is irresistible because we’re really happy to be here.

https://collider.com/daphne-rubin-vega-in-the-heights-interview/

***************************

Salon Squad

“I could do those costumes for the rest of my life and still find new things to do with them,” Travers said about designing for Daniela (Daphne Rubin-Vega), Carla (Stephanie Beatriz), and Cuca (Dascha Polanco). This adaptation has added a romantic dynamic between Daniela and Carla, which Travers incorporated in costumes he envisioned Carla had borrowed from Daniela’s closet — “maybe it was a windbreaker she had from 20 years ago; now it’s vintage to Carla.” One reference point for the salon owner, he says, is Sex and the City designer Patricia Field. “Pat is such a fearless risk-taker when it comes to her own personal style and also her body of work is quite fearless,” Travers explains. “We took a light inspiration from Pat herself, just in terms of that risk-taking and the combinations of high and low.” Daniela’s powerhouse status includes a nod to Rosie the Riveter for her biggest musical number and Travers also points out that while this character’s wide-leg leopard print pants felt like a risky move at the time, “of course, now, fashion is all about the big pant.”

Meanwhile, Carla has “much more of an Instagram sensibility” with a Nikita Dragun influence. The streetwear-inspired sneakers, bike shorts, and crop top athletic spirit go further than “dress for likes” on social media, “there is heart in it.” Rounding out the trio is Cuca who wears a “head-to-toe [look] Monday through Sunday.” Describing this character as “unbelievably fun to dress,” he explains that if she is wearing a printed dress then her fanny pack, socks, and scrunchie will match. Travers’ favorite salon squad costume moment was creating a weekend nightclub look that resulted in a strong unifying motif: “Three women in jumpsuits — no dresses — just jumpsuits going out. I had such fun as a costume designer getting to express a similar idea through three very different sets of eyes.”

https://www.vulture.com/article/in-the-heights-costume-designer-interview.html

**************************

Who was your first celebrity crush?

First celebrity crush was actually Daphne Rubin-Vega, from Rent. That was a cool, NOT AWKWARD moment when I met her for the first time ever, in real life. I was sweating, I was like AHH YOU’RE SO AMAZING AND BEAUTIFUL I USED TO HAVE A PICTURE OF YOU ON MY WALL, I’M SO SORRY THIS IS WEIRD. But it was also awesome. Of course I mentioned to Daphne that she was my crush. And I did it in the most awkward way possible, which is just, you know, right up my alley. I was like DAPHNE I LOVE YOU, right in her face. Which was awesome, and made for a really, really NOT AWKWARD rehearsal environment, at all. She likes me now, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK7YLaUULG8&ab_channel=BuzzFeedCeleb

******************************

#daniela and carla #daniela x carla #in the heights #stephanie beatriz #daphne rubin-vega #i told you i was obsessed #i can't ever just be a normal shipper i have to do THE MOST #i have to be THE BEST at shipping #such an idiot

65 notes · View notes

nasabeck · 3 years

Text

the last 20 years playlist (spotify)

(photo credit: found on pinterest and text added by me, i assure you that i scoured pinterest, instagram and google searched the image to find the original creator but cannot find them anywhere. if you know, please drop me a message so i can credit appropriately) this playlist has been unfinished for so long that the title changed from the last 15 years to the last 20 years, albeit none of these songs were actually a major deal to me when I was 7 y/o, more like 10+ y/o. but these songs have all meant something to me at some point in my life, they represent a good time or a tough time, a happy time or a really sad time, they were the monumental songs that got me through life up to this point. there’s pretty much a tale to tell for everything on this list, so let me know if you want to hear a story about a song or band!

1. numb without you - the maine // 2. can’t take my eyes off you - lady a // 3. i’ve got a dark alley and a bad idea that says you should shut your mouth - fall out boy // 4. transatlanticism - death cab for cutie // 5. northern downpour - panic! at the disco // 6. roses for the dead - funeral for a friend // 7. beating heart baby - head automatica // 8. runaway - cartel // 9. diamond days - kids in glass houses // 10. you’re not alone - saosin // 11. run away with me - aaron tveit // 12. stay together for the kids - blink 182 // 13. disenchanted - my chemical romance // 14. ghosts - laura marling // 15. walk on water - 30 seconds to mars // 16. terrible things - mayday parade // 17. cute without the “e” - taking back sunday // 18. family portrait - pink // 19. there’s a good reason these tables aren’t numbered honey, you just haven’t figured it out yet - panic! at the disco // 20. you owe me an iou - hot hot heat // 21. the middle - jimmy eat world // 22. two beds and a coffee machine - savage garden // 23. (un)lost - the maine // 24. love steals us from loneliness - idlewild // 25. makedamnsure - taking back sunday // 26. did you hear the rain? - george ezra // 27. nicotine and alcohol saved my life - deaf havana // 28. everything is alright - motion city soundtrack // 29. i caught fire - the used // 30. sunshine - kids in glass houses // 31. slip the noose - the maine // 32. if i didn’t believe in you - jeremy jordan // 33. c’est la vie - stereophonics // 34. disconnected (live) - 5 seconds of summer // 35. time to dance - panic! at the disco // 36. english girls approximately (live) - ryan adams // 37. do you hear the people sing? - les miserables 2012 film soundtrack // 38. love to love - jessie ware // 39. you matter to me - waitress obc soundtrack // 40. take on the world - you me at six // 41. history - funeral for a friend // 42. shimmy shimmy quarter turn - hellogoodbye // 43. r-evolve - 30 seconds to mars // 44. remembering sunday - all time low // 45. helena - my chemical romance // 46. i like america & america likes me - the 1975 // 47. simple man - jensen ackles & jason manns // 48. moments - one direction // 49. this is gospel - panic! at the disco // 50. it ends tonight - the all-american rejects // 51. red sky - thrice // 52. i don’t want to be - gavin degraw // 53. ocean avenue - yellowcard // 54. i could be in love with someone like you (live) - norbert leo butz // 55. taxi - the maine // 56. passion for publication - anarbor // 57. carry on wayard son - kansas // 58. red is the new black - funeral for a friend // 59. local boy in the photograph - stereophonics // 60. the gambler - fun. // 61. rite of spring - angels & airwaves // 62. dying in la - panic! in the disco // 63. somebody told me - the killers // 64. as if we never said goodbye - glee cast // 65. three cheers for five years (acoustic) - mayday parade // 66. raise hell - kids in glass houses // 67. why - busted // 68. bodybag - hit the lights // 69. send in the clowns - judi dench // 70. on my own - the used // 71. not alone - mcfly // 72. all too well - taylor swift // 73. the mother we share - chvrches // 74. bennie and the jets - elton john // 75. beggin for thread (gryffin & hotel garuda remix) - banks // 76. teen idle - marina // 77. give him a great big kiss - the shangri-las // 78. found/tonight - ben platt & lin-manuel miranda // 79. hurricane - 30 seconds to mars // 80. good enough - little mix // 81. it must really suck to be four year strong right now - four year strong // 82. vegas - all time low // 83. champagne supernova - oasis // 84. set the fire to the third bar - snow patrol ft. martha wainwright // 85. gemini feed - banks // 86. rubber ring - the smiths // 87. this scene is dead - we are scientists // 88. wasted - cartel // 89. we’ll all be - the maine

74 notes · View notes

scripts4dreamers · 4 years

Text

Bedside Manner

AN: Lockdown is always hellish but it does leave you a lot of time to think. Characters: Marcus Arguello Pairing(s): Marcus x reader Spoiler(s): None Warning(s): Swearing, unhealthy coping mechanism (Smoking/drinking)

Prompt: this post I saw from @write-it-motherfuckers

-----------------------

When the monks rushed in and started pulling people out of class, you weren’t sure if you were terrified or relieved. On one hand, you could hear the fight happening in the corridors, the sound of Saya and Maria yelling at one another, kids cheering something on, and you were scared of what they might do to one another if no one intervened. On the other, the school itself getting involved was almost never a good sign and, as a staff slammed into your back, ushering you forward, you couldn’t help the rising tide of panic in your chest. The corridors were packed with students being pushed and shoved towards their rooms and you searched through the chaos, without much hope, for a familiar face.

“Y/N!” You heard someone call, “Y/N!”

“Marcus?” You shouted back, turning in the direction of the voice, “Marcus where are you?”

“I’m here!” He shouted, closer now.

The kids next to you pushed and shuffled forward, blocking your view and, no matter how much you twisted and turned, you couldn’t see past flashes of navy blazers and anonymous patches of skin. It was horribly claustrophobic but, just as the panic started to get too much, you felt a hand wrap around your wrist and caught sight of a familiar mess of brown curls.

“Got you,” Marcus assured, still several people behind you, “shit Y/N/N I thought-shit, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

“Maria and Saya?” You asked.

Marcus shook his head, “I’ll explain later. What’re the monks doing?”

You opened your mouth to explain but, before you could, Master Lin did it for you.

“Everybody back to your rooms,” Master Lin’s voice boomed, “We’re officially in lockdown.”

Marcus’ eyes widened. The monk at your back shoved you hard, forcing you forward and through the first available door. You stumbled in, tripping over a backpack on the floor, and just managed to catch yourself before you fell. From behind you you could hear Marcus being pushed into the room and, beyond that, just for a second, the sounds of your fellow students yelling and complaining before the door to your room slammed shut and you heard the lock click into place. Your heart sank and you swore under your breath, turning to face Marcus, who was tugging uselessly on the door handle.

“It’ll be locked from the outside,” you told him, “always is during lockdown.”

Marcus Arguello was almost a friend of yours. Almost. You liked him well enough. He was smart and funny and caring, he was friends with all of your friends, he was helpful and interesting, he respected boundaries and he always knew how to get a smile out of you. All in all, he was an incredible person, but that was kind of the problem; you liked him a lot. Too much. Since his first day at King’s, Marcus had done nothing but make you smile and blush and generally make an idiot out of yourself at every available opportunity, which, at this particular high school, wasn’t just embarrassing, it was dangerous. Trouble followed him like a lovesick puppy, putting your life at risk more than once but, no matter how many times you told yourself to just forget him and move on, you couldn’t. You just kept coming back, every time. You wanted to believe that some part of you was distancing itself from Marcus and that that was why you were hesitant to call him a friend but, if you were honest, you just weren’t keen on lying to yourself. You were in too deep, he meant too much to you.

He sighed, “Fuck.”

You hummed in agreement, trying to hide how nervous the idea of being stuck in a room with Marcus made you feel. There wasn’t much else to say about lockdown anyway. They didn’t happen often, but this was by no means your first, and you knew there was no real point in fighting it.

“This is bullshit,” Marchus continued, “they’re not really just gonna keep us locked in here, are they?”

“Yup,” you answered, collapsing onto the bed and picking up a book, “no leaving except two bathroom breaks a day and meal times. You might as well get comfortable.”

“This isn’t even my room,” Marcus complained, “what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“No, it’s my room,” you explained, gesturing to the other twin sized bed, “you could start by sitting down and telling me what the hell is going on.”

Ever since that trip to Vegas, where everything had gone so horribly wrong, things had been different. Marcus had been different. He was more somber, vacillating between being on edge and being extremely happy and relaxed. He was stressed, of course, you all were but there would be moments when you would look up and catch him just watching you and then, when he saw you looking, he would just smile a bit, like he was sad about something. It always made something in your chest pinch. What made the situation worse was that, outside of those moments, he’d been distant with you. More distant than what was usual for Marcus. As far as you could tell, he was avoiding you in class, sitting next to Petra or Lex at lunch and just generally keeping you at arm’s length. You hadn’t had a real conversation in weeks. You wanted to be indifferent to it but, in reality, it had hurt more than you wanted it to and you wanted an explanation.

He wasn’t smiling at you now. If anything, you noted as Marcus folded himself onto the floor with his back against your roommate’s bed and buried his head in his hands, he looked tired, like he hadn’t slept in days and it was wearing on him. That thing near your heart pinched again and you cursed your own selfishness. Marcus had obviously been dealing with a lot, more than the rest of you combined probably, and all you could do was think about your bruised ego. Typical. Cautiously you swung yourself upright, sitting cross legged on your mattress to face your friend.

“Marcus, are you okay?”

“Hmm?” he answered, his voice thick with exhaustion, “What? Oh, yeah, I’m fine Y/N/N, don’t worry about it.”

You raised an eyebrow in disbelief but didn’t push, knowing he’d open up in his own time.

‘How long do you think we’ll be in here?” he asked.

You shrugged, “Until Lin gets what he wants, I guess.”

“What if-” he paused, “what if he doesn’t though? What happens then?”

You leant forward, “What’s going on, Marcus?” you asked gently, “You can tell me. Maybe I can help.”

Before you’d even finished the question he was shaking his head, “No. No, Y/N/N trust me, you can’t help with this.”

“I can try,” you argued, giving him a small smile, “I’m pretty smart, you know?”

For a second it looked like Marcus wanted to cry. His eyes watered up and you had to fight the instinct to reach down and pull him into a hug.

“Yeah, I know that.” he said softly, sniffing and wiping his eyes to force back the tears, “Okay, Y/N, I’ll tell you.”

Satisfied, you leant back on your bed, waiting expectantly while Marcus collected his thoughts. He sighed again, running his hand through his already messed up hair. His dark eyes darted around your room, taking in every inch of the place like he’d never seen a dorm before. It made you feel strangely unsettled.

“This really your room?” he asked, pulling out a cigarette and sliding it between his lips, “It’s nice.”

You rolled your eyes, “Yes, it’s my room and you,” you started, leaning forward and pulling the cig out of his mouth, “can’t smoke in here.”

“Wha-really?” Marcus complained, trying and failing to sound nonchalant.

His hands were fidgety, which meant he was nervous.

“Yes, really, Now stop deflecting and tell me why I’m stuck in my room with no one but you for company, and why you look like you haven’t slept in a month, will you?”

He met your eye and you felt, more than saw, his resistance crumble.

“Well, I should probably start with how I blew up my old roommate at the boy’s home,” Marcus started, leaning back against the bed, “and why he wants to kill me for it.”

----------------------

When Marcus finally fell silent you were shocked. You felt like a tidal wave of information had just knocked you over and you were just drowning in it all. How had so much been happening without your knowledge? Some things you’d known about, of course, like Maria killing Chico and Billy killing his dad but, all this other stuff? Chester and El Diablo? Maria killing Yukio? Juan going after Saya in the middle of the hallway?

“Jesus Christ,” you said.

Marcus snorted, “You can say that again.”

You reached behind your bed and pulled out a bottle of vodka that was still mostly full, left over from some house party or another that you’d managed to smuggle in. In one fluid motion, before you could think better of it, you twisted the cap off and took a deep swig, sloshing a little bit on your uniform by accident. The alcohol burned like fire on the way down and you grimaced as you passed the bottle to Marcus.

“Thank fuck,” said, accepting the bottle gratefully, “Y/N, you’re an angel, if you ever need anything-”

“Yeah, yeah,” you smiled, “shut up and drink, Arguello.”

“If I must,” he joked with a melodramatic sigh, taking a massive gulp.

As he drank, you watched Marcus as inconspicuously as you could. He seemed lighter now, like the act of opening up to you had taken a huge weight off his shoulders. You still weren’t exactly sure how you felt about it all. Were you confused? Angry? Terrified? Did you wish he’d never said anything? Were you happy he’d trusted you? You didn’t know, probably a little bit of all of it but, despite the craziness and confusion, you were glad you’d been able to help, even if it was just by listening. Talking to Marcus had always been one of your favorite things to do and, sadly this was the most genuine conversation you’d had with one another since Vegas. It was nice, in a weird, messed up sort of way.

“Is this why you’ve been so off with me lately?” you eventually asked, “You were trying to keep this all a secret?”

Marcus grimaced, whether from the alcohol or embarrassment you weren’t sure, and passed the bottle back.

“I’ve always been shit at lying to you and, yeah, I wanted to keep you out of it,” he admitted, “I thought if I just waited long enough everything would just sort of die down.”

“But it hasn’t?”

“But it hasn’t,” he agreed.

“So, we’re all basically fucked.” you said simply.

“Unless I can get to Saya, convince her not to gut Maria and explain what happened before anyone else does, yeah.”

“Well,” you sighed, pushing yourself up onto your feet and sliding your secret stash of contraband from its hiding place in the ceiling, “you know, whatever happens I’ll fight by your side when the time comes,” you said, avoiding his eye, “but for now, since this might be one of our last chances, we might as well enjoy the peace and quiet.”

Marcus looked up at the contraband and smiled, “you’re amazing, you know that?”

Blood rose to your cheeks and you broke his gaze, tossing a bag of cheetos at him, “Shut up.” you said fondly, “And don’t ever keep me in the dark like that again.”

The teasing glint in Marcus’ eyes softened and he reached out to catch your hand, forcing you to look back at him from where he sat on the floor.

“Never.” he promised.

You passed the first few hours of lockdown in a bubble of serenity. While you lay on your bed reading and listening to music, Marcus doodled in his journal all the while maintaining an easy conversation with you. You avoided the hard topics, focussing instead on music and comic books and which teachers you thought would win in a fight as you passed the bottle of vodka back and forth. It felt good, easy even, joking with one another like nothing had happened, like nothing had changed. And maybe it hadn’t, you reasoned to yourself, maybe this is how it had always been at King’s; a little bit messy, a little bit terrifying but better than what your life had been before. Maybe this was enough, maybe this was the trade off you made when you agreed to go to a school for assassins and, maybe, you could be okay with that.

At some point Marcus had moved and was now leaning up against your bed instead of your roommates so that you could play with his hair while he drew. It was something you’d discovered that he liked entirely by accident, sitting on the roof together one night when he was still fairly new at King’s. Back then he’d been so touch starved that he’d almost cried the first time he felt your fingers carding through his hair and you’d wondered, not for the first time, what exactly had happened in that boy’s home to make him so afraid. You’d never do it in public of course, people would get the wrong idea and pick on you both if you did but, in private, you’d gotten used to just reaching out and twirling one of his curls around your finger whenever you wanted. As you gently let your fingers scrape against his scalp you could hear Marcus' pencil as it scratched against the paper, and you fought the urge to lean forward and see what he was drawing. Journals were private shit, you reminded yourself, if Marcus wanted to show you what he was doing, he would.

“What’re you reading?” He asked, breaking the comfortable silence you’d fallen into.

“The color purple,” you replied, “my mom sent it to me.”

“I didn’t know you and your mom were close like that,” Marcus said, a note of confusion in his voice, “in fact,” he stopped drawing suddenly and twisted his head to look at you, “I don’t really know anything about your family.”

You shrugged, “There’s not much to know, really. My parents are smugglers and I’m at King’s, end of story.”

“End of story? Just like that?” he retorted, “Come on Y/N/N, you know everything about me and I know almost nothing about you. Tell me something.”

“That’s ‘cause you are a chronic oversharer and a terrible judge of character,” you teased, ruffling his hair and returning to your book. Marcus sighed, all melodrama and betrayal and you could feel his eyes burning a hole through The Color Purple. You swore loudly and sat up, “Fine, whatever, you win,” you conceded, “what do you want to know?”

“Yes!” he sighed, laughing at his own cleverness before continuing, “Okay, do you have any siblings?”

“I had an older sister, she died when I was eight and we’re not going to talk about it,” you answered, “next.”

“Favorite colour?”

“Blue or grey.”

“Where were you born?”

“In a tiny little city you’ve never heard of,” you said.

“Have you ever been arrested?” Marcus pressed on.

“Twice, have you?”

“Never,” he replied.

“Okay square,” you joked, “my turn. What’s your biggest fear?”

“Jesus, alright,” Marcus laughed, reaching for the vodka, “if we’re going there we both need to be like 15% less sober.”

You snatched the bottle back, “How about this, for every question we choose to answer we get to drink. If we pass on a question then the other person gets to ask two more which we then can’t pass on, agreed?”

“A drinking game version of twenty questions? What are we, seven?” Marcus complained, but he shook your hand anyway, “Agreed.”

“Good, so back to my question,” you started, “what, Marcus Lopez Arguello, is your biggest fear?”

Marcus looked at you for a long moment, like he was sizing you up and, instinctively, you fought back the urge to shiver under the weight of his stare. He was, of course, incredibly handsome; the sort of handsome that you couldn’t help but notice, even when you were trying not to, but that wasn’t what made it so difficult to meet his eye. No, what made it difficult was that, despite what he thought, Marcus really knew you. He saw past all the bullshit showboating, all the carefully constructed facades. Every single defense mechanism you had was worthless against him because, at the end of the day, you didn’t really want to keep Marcus out. If anything you wanted him closer and, when he looked at you like that, you felt like he might see right through you, into that secret part of your heart that you kept hidden. So you did what any self respecting coward would do; you looked away. Marcus sighed and reached for the bottle.

“Dying without really having lived,” he admitted, taking a swig from the bottle, “and dying alone I guess. You?”

You wrinkled your nose, “Pass.”

“What?” Marcus laughed incredulously, “You can’t pass! I just bared my soul to you and you’re just gonna opt out? Boooooo! Booooooo Y/N!”

“Fine,” you laughed, “fine I’ll tell you. I uh-I’m afraid that I’ll never find somewhere to belong. Like maybe I’m just always gonna feel like an outsider wherever I am until I die, maybe even after that.”

“You belong with us,” Marcus said, “with me and Billy and Petra and the others.”

You shook your head and drank deep, wincing at the vodka’s burn, “Nah, I don’t. Not really at least, not like you and Billy. I’m sure they all like me just fine but, at the end of the day, I’m nobody’s reason for being there, you know?” Marcus looked thoughtful but, just as he opened his mouth to answer, you cut him off, desperate to avoid hearing whatever kind, pitying lie he’d come up with, “Anyway moving on, it’s your turn Arguello. Hit me with your best question, I’m an open book.”

You traded questions back and forth like that for quite some time, laughing and joking and drinking as you did. Marcus was ruthless in his honesty, laying himself bare in front of you and refusing to pass on even a single question. You passed on many. Not all of them were deep and personal, some were funny or nonsensical, but enough were deep and personal that, by the time the alcohol had started to really kick in, you were feeling a little raw. It was like Marcus was desperate to wrap himself up in his own honesty, clinging to every shred of emotional intimacy he could find like it was a lifeline and flinging himself ever deeper into his own vulnerability. Usually you would have pulled back so fast at the idea of being that open that you’d have given yourself whiplash but now, with the alcohol making you feel warm and light, and Marcus smiling at you like there was nowhere else in the world that he would rather be, you revelled in it. There was a sort of tension building too, not exactly something but almost something….very nearly something, and part of you was just excited to see what it was. Marcus laughed at something you said, you didn’t even remember what, and the sound made you so happy that you actually had to stop and catch your breath. He was still leaning against your bed but now his back was to the cupboard next to your headrest so that he could face you while you talked. Unfortunately this also meant that you could study his face more conveniently, mapping every dip and curve and scar like he might vanish if you looked away. Dangerous territory, a voice in your head whispered, sharp turns up ahead.

“Shhh, stop, it’s my turn,” Marcus asserted, still breathless from laughing, “Okay, no shhh-Y/N-listen, here’s my question; have you ever been in love?”

Dangerous territory! Your brain shouted, Abort, abort, abort, abo-

“Nope,” you answered, which felt like a lie even though it technically wasn’t, “have you?”

“Is that your question?” he asked, which some small part of your brain noted was strange since, up until now, you’d both been answering every question.

“No! Well-yes-but I have a different, better question so just answer this one anyway.” you said, pushing the thought away and looking down at Marcus expectantly.

He held your gaze for a second longer, took a deep, deep drink and nodded before saying, like it physically pained him, “I’m in love now.”

Your heart stuttered and dropped into your stomach like a stone, but you kept your face neutral, “Saya?”

Marcus gave you a wry smile that hinged on sadness, “Is that your question?”

You blushed and shook your head, trying to recapture the fun, carefree energy you’d had just moments before. Somehow, your drunk brain noted, you’d made Marcus sad. Or he had made himself sad. Or the question had made him sad, maybe? It was confusing and thinking about it made your chest feel tight so you just pushed forward.

“No, here’s my question-are you ready? It’s a good one-here it is; what is your most precious recent memory and why?”

Marcus frowned, “Most precious memory? What does that mean? Do you mean my best memory?”

You shook your head, “See, that’s why it’s so good; a precious memory is like a good memory, only more. It’s a memory you play over and over in your head whenever things get tough because something important happened there, something you didn’t realize was happening when you were in it. So you have to keep remembering it, you know?” you explained, “So you can figure out what happened and why it was so important.” you continued, “And I say recent because, well, we’ve talked about our families a lot, and the people we’ve lost, but we’re on our own now, and we’ve gotta start making new precious memories.”

“Oh,” Marcus said softly.

“It’s good right?” you continued, distantly aware that Marcus was looking sad again, “Like mine is that day that I tried to stop Viktor from stealing that girl’s kit kat.”

“You mean when he and his goons beat you to a pulp?” he asked dubiously.

“Almost to a pulp,” you corrected, “but while he was wailing on me, the girl got away. I knew when I went in that Vic would beat the shit out of me, but I did it anyway and it worked. It was the day I realised that the choices I make can have some positive effect on the world, so long as I’m willing to take the consequences of them.” you finished, shifting so that your head was resting on your hand, “So, what’s yours and why?”

Marcus shook his head and took another sip from the vodka bottle, “You’re killing me here, Y/N/N. Pass.”

Your jaw dropped, “What!?! NO! You never pass on questions, that’s like your thing.”

“Yeah well I’m passing on this one so just-” he waved his hand, shooing away your berating, “ask me something else.”

“Fine,” you sighed, mulling over the possibilities in your head for a moment, “okay well, since you apparently are in love and I’ve never been in love, what does it feel like?”

“Hmm?”

You met his eye, “Being in love,” you clarified, “what does it feel like?”

In the dim light of your dorm room it was hard to tell, but you were pretty sure you saw Marcus flush deep red.

“It-uh-” he started, fiddling with his hands, “it’s kind of hard to describe.”

“Try,” you encouraged softly, mesmerized by the shift in his demeanour.

“Well I-” Marcus cleared his throat, “for a long while I wasn’t sure it actually was love. I thought maybe it was just general teen stupidness you know? You want what you can’t have, projecting onto someone you admire, that sort of crap but then one day-after Vegas actually-it just,” he shrugged, “changed.” you listened intently as every word burrowed itself into the small secret part of your heart like a knife, and he continued, “Suddenly everything made sense. It’s like my whole damn life was leading me to that moment, like maybe this was why all the shitty stuff happened, so that I could be here, feeling like this.” he explained simply, keeping his gaze focused on his hands, “And now it’s fucking crazy ‘cause all this shit’s going on and all I can think about is keeping-is not losing this. My heart feels like it’s gonna explode half the time, like it’s too damn big for my body and it hurts but it’s a good hurt, like stretching a stiff muscle. I’m not even really worried for myself anymore, but I’m so fucking scared that something I say or do is gonna come back and mess everything up and-” he shook his head, his voice quivering, “and I’m terrified, but I also don’t ever want this feeling to go away. It’s scary having someone hold your heart like this but, at the same time, I think not feeling like this, now that I know what it’s like, would hurt a million times more.” he finished, tensing his jaw and fidgeting like he was nervous, “Sorry, bit of a rambling answer. I owe you another one, don’t I?”

“Hmm? Oh, yeah,” you answered, snapping yourself back into focus. It felt like the air itself was heavy with tension now, like all the things you wanted to say were swirling around your head, invisible but always present because you knew that feeling. You knew it all too well and for him to feel that way, to talk that passionately about someone else...you just couldn’t take it. “Okay for my second question;” you continued, “tell me your most precious memory and why.”

This time all the blood leached out of Marcus’ face, like he was becoming a ghost right before your eyes. You felt mean, it was a total bastardisation of the rules and you knew it but there was a little voice in the back of your mind telling you that this was the only question you wanted answered, that this was what you needed to know.

“That’s so against the rules.” Marcus tried, lightening the atmosphere considerably.

“No it’s not,” you argued, “it’s a dick move for sure but there was nothing specifically forbidding it in our original agreement.”

“You suuuuuuuck,” Marcus whined, leaning into your arm where it hung off the bed.

Instinctively you threaded your fingers through his hair, playing with the soft curls like you always did. You felt Marcus arch up into your touch, humming with pleasure as you scraped your fingers through the baby hairs on the back of his neck. He shivered, but the tension slipped out of his muscles and he relaxed with a sigh, resigning himself to his fate.

“Do you really want to know?” He asked softly.

“I really do,” you replied.

“Okay then” he breathed, “honestly, it’s that time on the way back from Vegas when everyone else had gone into the gas station for food, and it was just you and me in the backseat of Willie’s car.” he continued, “You had your hair pinned back and I was telling you some story about my childhood while we waited. You had a red sweater on, and bright blue nails. It was dark out, but the lights from the gas station were shining around your head like a halo.”

“I remember,” you told him, your voice hardly louder than a whisper, “but why? Why that memory?”

Marcus looked up, his dark eyes filed to the brim with the kind of vulnerable sincerity that made you feel breathless and afraid. Slowly, as though he were approaching an injured animal, he reached up and pulled your fingers from his hair and held your palm in both of his. You were frozen, like a deer in headlights, but you still felt the shiver as it ran up your spine at his touch.

“It was the first time I saw you smile, for real, since we’d arrived in Vegas,” he explained, studying your hand, “up until then I was pretty sure I was never gonna see it again but,” he shook his head and shrugged, “I made some awful joke about wishing I’d known then what I knew now and...you laughed. You really laughed and you rested your forehead on my shoulder and-boom-just like that...I knew.”

“Knew what?” you asked, half terrified of the answer.

Marcus gave you that smile, that sad little smile he’d been shooting you for weeks, the one that made your heart hurt just to look at and, before he even said anything, you were already shaking your head.

“Don’t make me say it Y/N,” he whispered, “surely by now you know?”

“No.” you said, pulling your hand away and leaning back, “No, you don’t. You can’t, Marcus.”

“Y/N/N-”

“No, you don’t understand,” you insisted, “it’s not possible. You aren’t-you don’t think of me that way. No one does, I’m not like that. I’m not lovable like you are.”

“Like I-?” Marcus started, following you up and sitting gingerly on your bed, “Y/N you’re infinitely lovable.”

“No I’m not!” You asserted, sure that this had to be some sort of trick, some sort of sick joke, “Who could love me? Who could possibly be fucked up and unlucky enough to love me?”

“I could!” Marcus promised, “I do, that’s what I’m saying.”

“Marcus, you’re the only person I’ve ever felt this way about,” you admitted, “please don’t joke.”

His answering smile was gentle and understanding, like he saw the pain you were in, like he understood. You couldn’t hope for this, you had never let yourself believe for even a second that-

“It’s not a joke, Y/N,” he promised, cupping your face in his hands and forcing you to meet his gaze, “I’m just-I’m in love with you. You were wrong, you’ve never been an outsider, you’ve always belonged with me.”

You searched his eyes, his dark, beautiful eyes, for some trace of deceit, some hint that this was too good to be true and that he was waiting to take it away from you, but found none. Maybe he was right, a small, hopeful voice in your mind chimed in, maybe this was how it was supposed to be. Maybe just this once, you didn’t need to be afraid, maybe you could let yourself want this, want him.

Because looking back, it made sense, didn’t it? All those things you’d written off; months of secret smiles and gentle touches, of seeking one another out when you didn’t need to, this was what they were leading up to. As you looked, Marcus blushed, his cheeks flushing a pale shade of pink as you both realised, for the first time, how close you were, how open and vulnerable you were to each other in that moment.

“Y/N/N,” he started softly, “Y/N/N I don’t want to be an asshole or anything but-” he let out a breathy laugh, “but I really want to kiss you right now. Would it be alright if-”

You were kissing him before he could even finish his sentence.

#deadly class #deadly class syfy #deadly class aesthetic #deadly class imagine #deadly class fanfiction #marcus lopez arguello #marcus lopez #marcus arguello #marcus arguello imagine #marcus lopez arguello aesthetic #marcus lopez arguello imagine #marcus x reader #marcus arguello x reader #marcus lopez arguello x reader #marcus x you #marcus arguello x you #marcus lopez arguello x you #jordsie #jordsie writes

332 notes · View notes

tcm · 4 years

Text

Noel Coward: Renaissance Man of Stage and Screen By Susan King

Noel Coward was known simply in England as “The Master.” And for good reason. Coward (1899-1973) was a true Renaissance man. He was an actor, playwright, composer, songwriter, producer and director. (Lin-Manuel Miranda is our contemporary version of Coward.) He even headlined the Desert Inn in Las Vegas in 1955. He knew he was a genius. Coward once described himself as an “enormously talented man, and there’s no use pretending that I’m not.”

He wrote such classic plays as Private Lives, Design for Living, Blithe Spirit, Cavalcade, The Vortex and Present Laughter. And, he took the stiff-upper lip of his characters. His comedies were filled with extravagant characters firing off delicious bon mots. His dialogue was spare and contemporary. Kenneth Tynan once said, “Coward was the Turkish bath in which English comedy slimmed.”

Needless to say, acting styles changed with Coward and he ushered in a new style of theater. Performers were no longer trapped in the 19th-century style of more declamatory acting. As a composer, the flamboyant Coward wrote such beloved songs as “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” and “I’ll See You Again.” Hollywood soon took notice of Coward the playwright. One of Coward’s biggest West End hits was 1931’s Cavalcade, a sweeping dramatic epic spanning 30 years in an upper-class family. The cast featured a staggering 200 actors, 22 sets including revolving stages and hydraulic platforms. Brad Rosenstein of the Museum of Performance & Design in San Francisco told the L.A Times in 2010 about the stage production: “In the earlier sections, it’s very realistic, almost like a movie, but as the story moves further and further into the 20th century, it becomes more and more surreal.”

Fox bought the film rights, shooting the stage production to use as a blueprint for its lavish 1933 film production starring Diana Wyngard and Clive Brook. “Designer William Cameron Menzies translated his stage montages into movie terms and that became the language of movie montages for the next 30 years,” said Rosenstein. CAVALCADE earned three Oscars including best film and director for Frank Lloyd. But truth be told, the film just hasn’t held up as well as other best film Oscar winners from that era. It’s handsome and well-acted but is a bit of a slog that screams prestige.

MGM’s “Boy Wonder” producer Irving Thalberg, who happened to be married to the studio’s top star Norma Shearer, bought the film rights to Private Lives for his wife. Rounding out the film adaptation’s cast was Robert Montgomery, Reginald Denny and Una Merkel. The farce, released in 1931, whirls around Amanda (Shearer) and Elyot (Montgomery), divorcees who reunite on their honeymoon with their new spouses and run off together.

Coward initially wasn’t thrilled that Shearer, who was best known for her heavily dramatic roles, was cast as Amanda. He didn’t think she was up to the comedic task. Shearer was unruffled: “I don’t care what he thinks.” Reviews were strong and so was the audience response. But truth be told, in the #MeToo climate, it’s hard to watch a film in which the leads scream, yell and throw things at each other and state that certain women should be struck regularly like gongs. Eleven years later, Shearer returned to Coward’s world in WE WERE DANCING (‘42) based on two short plays from the Master’s 1936 play Tonight at 8:30 She hadn’t made a film since 1940, so there was hope this comedy would revive her career. It didn’t.

Movie audiences finally got to see Coward the actor on screen in 1935. Not in a film based on one of his plays but an extraordinary morality piece, THE SCOUNDREL penned and directed by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Coward is remarkable as the title character, a New York publisher surrounded by sycophants and ruthless and callous in his treatment of people especially a lovely young poet (Julie Haydon). Coward’s Anthony Mallare destroys everything he touches including the poet and her lover (Stanley Ridges). When she learns that Mallare is taking a flight, she tells him that not only does she hope the plane crashes, she desires that as he dies, he knows no one will shed a tear for him. And when the plane crashes, he returns to the earthly world for a month to find someone who will mourn for him.

Mordaunt Hall wrote in his New York Times review: “As a suavely mannered portrait of decadence, The Scoundrel is a remarkably interesting motion picture. Mr. Coward is so perfectly attuned to the part we cannot help suspecting that he contributed to the dialogue. He is a master at delivering the barbed epithet. You have to hear him reciting a line like ‘It reeks with morality-stressing the r’s so as to make it exquisitely funny-to know how good he can be.”

Hecht and MacArthur won an Oscar for their story. Coward won his own special Oscar in 1943 for his stirring World War II drama IN WHICH WE SERVE (‘42) for “outstanding production achievement.” IN WHICH WE SERVE is far more than a propaganda piece to keep British morale up and the home fires burning. The film was inspired by Coward’s friend Lord Louis Mountbatten, who in 1941, lost his ship when it was sunk in the Battle of Crete. Coward stars, produced, penned the music and co-directed with a former editor by the name of David Lean. The story is generally told in flashback about the survivors of a Royal Navy ship that had been destroyed by German torpedoes. While recalling moments in their lives, they hang on to a small lifeboat waiting to be rescued.

Besides Coward, the film also stars Celia Johnson, John Mills and Richard Attenborough, who though uncredited in his film debut, is a stand-out as a sailor. A young Daniel Massey, who was the child of Raymond Massey, plays Coward’s son. Daniel was also Coward’s godson, and 26 years after the release of IN WHICH WE SERVE, he earned a supporting actor Oscar nomination as Coward in the Gertrude Lawrence bio-pic STAR! (‘68). IN WHICH WE SERVE was also nominated for the best film and screenplay Oscars.

Coward and Lean next collaborated in 1944 with the moving THIS HAPPY BREED, another sweeping epic. Based on Coward’s hit play of the same name, THIS HAPPY BREED revolves around a middle-class family who move into a rented house in 1919 and it follows their lives until the declaration of World War II in 1939. Lean directed this classic solo and he gets fabulous performances from the cast which includes Celia Johnson, Robert Newton, Stanley Holloway and John Mills. Ronald Neame provided the stunning Technicolor cinematography. It’s funny, moving and poignant and you’ll find yourself shedding a few tears along the way.

The year 1945 was a prolific one for producer Coward and director Lean. The duo went the Technicolor route with gorgeous results for the hit film version of Coward’s popular comedy-fantasy BLITHE SPIRIT. Rex Harrison portrays a writer who finds his world is turned upside-down when an eccentric medium (a perfect Margaret Rutherford) accidentally conjures up his dead first wife (Kay Hammond) who is jealous of his current spouse (Constance Cummings). The film lacks the spark of the stage play, but it’s still fun and the then cutting-edge special effects won the Oscar.

And what can one say about BRIEF ENCOUNTER (‘45)? One of the most romantic films of all time and stars the delicate Johnson and the handsome Trevor Howard as married people who meet at a small railway station café and fall in love. Everything comes together perfectly in this masterpiece that was released in the U.S. in 1946. Based on Coward’s play Still Life, BRIEF ENCOUNTER is beautifully directed by Lean who really came into his own with this film. The performances of Johnson and Howard are pitch perfect and poignant; Robert Krasker supplied the atmospheric black-and-white cinematography and the use of Rachminoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 just adds to the romance.

Lean won the grand prize for his direction at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946 and earned his first Oscar nomination for Best Director in addition to sharing a screenplay nomination with Anthony Havelock-Allan and Neame. Johnson was nominated for best actress which she lost to Olivia de Havilland for TO EACH HIS OWN (’46), but Johnson did win the New York Film Critics honor.

#Noel Coward #Blithe Spirit #Brief Encounter #Private Lives #Norma Shearer #playwright #David Lean #Susan King

62 notes · View notes

londonspirit · 3 years

Link

After the pandemic delayed its highly-anticipated release, the In the Heights movie is finally coming to very thirsty fans this Friday - and, to make the premiere even better, a special behind-the-scenes look at the movie is hitting bookshelves. In the Heights: Finding Home is a joint venture with Lin-Manuel Miranda, screenwriter Quiara Alegría Hudes, and Jeremy McCarter - it combines never-before-seen photos and oral history style-storytelling to take readers onto the Washington Heights set, spilling all sorts of filming secrets. Here, in an exclusive excerpt, read along as the cast battles record heat to complete the "Carnaval del Barrio" number.

Washington Heights is dense enough, and lively enough, to offer a distilled version of the New York paradox: Life is a nerve-fraying ordeal that you miss terribly as soon as it's gone. (According to local custom, people don't just double-park here, they triple-park.) Everybody knew that shooting a movie there would be difficult and expensive. But Jon [M. Chu, the director,] couldn't imagine doing it any other way.

For all of its fantastical touches-what Jon calls its "sing-to-the-stars-y" energy-Heights has always drawn power from its realism, a depiction of life as it's actually lived. The sweet spot for the movie, Jon felt, would be offering "a very truthful take on living in Washington Heights, then upping it."

In other words: No matter how fraught the process might be, the cast, the crew, and all of their gear-up to and including their fake sun in the sky-were going to spend the summer of 2019 in Washington Heights.

"The essence of a movie dictates where you shoot it," explains Kevin McCormick, a Warner Bros. executive who was integral to Heights. "And there's no way you could not have made this in Washington Heights. To have a movie about this community and not film there would be such a lost opportunity."

The first thing they did there was listen. Members of the production team, particularly Samson Jacobson, the location manager (born and raised in the area-a definite plus), and Karla Sayles, the director of public affairs at Warner Bros., met with community leaders to field questions and respond to concerns. Once again, Luis Miranda was a vital resource, drawing on relationships he had built over decades to make introductions.

The producers vowed to do all they could to limit the physical footprint of the shoot. Cast members shared trailers that they might otherwise have kept to themselves. The production hired people from the neighborhood for roles onscreen and off. Instead of catering every meal, they encouraged actors and crew to buy lunch in area restaurants. They even funded a student production of the show at George Washington high school.

What you see onscreen is a two-hour-and-fourteen-minute record of movie professionals falling in love with a place and its people. They arrived uptown to discover that Washington Heights really was different from most places in New York. Locals opened the hydrants on hot afternoons and played dominoes on the sidewalks. The piragüeros really did park their carts on the sidewalk to hawk their flavors of the day. The fascination seemed to be mutual: Actors got used to seeing whole families-little kids and their abuelitas-watching from their stoops at any time of the day or night.

Which is not to say that it came easily.

To Alice Brooks, the director of photography, the weather problems were "insane." If a storm popped up on the radar anywhere nearby, they had to suspend production. This happened with schedule-wrecking regularity. They expected to be free of such interruptions when they went underground to shoot "Paciencia y Fe" on the subway. Instead, they experienced a torment familiar to every New Yorker but with a twist: They weren't waiting for the train to appear so they could ride it to work, they just needed the garbage train to pass by so they could go back to shooting their movie.

The need to solve the endless riddles of New York filmmaking had led the producers to add Anthony Bregman to the team. At this point, he reckons, he's filmed in just about every corner of his hometown, always looking for ways to capture the authentic look and feel of a place-even when the movie is surreal. (He produced Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a valuable point of reference for the reality-bending frame of Quiara's screenplay.) So he wasn't especially rattled when, on the night they filmed "Alabanza," a nearby building caught fire, or when, on another night, gunshots rang out nearby.

"You want the life of the city?" Anthony asks. "The life of the city is complicated."

The production lost valuable shooting time on both of those nights. They found ways to make it up later. But other days offered no second chances. Anthony remembers looking at the calendar before summer began, getting a feel for what lay ahead. Some days seemed manageable; some days seemed tough. Then there was "Carnaval del Barrio."

"That day," he says, "was impossible."

What turned out to be a defining episode in the whole long history of In the Heights almost didn't happen at all. Many a movie executive had suggested over the years that there wasn't enough plot in "Carnaval del Barrio" to justify a song that was very long and very crowded, which made it very expensive. But the song's power doesn't come from the plot, it comes from the theme. The characters rally one another's spirits amid a citywide blackout. They raise their flags and celebrate their heritage-and their humanity-in defiance of every force telling them not to.

That community-fortifying aspect of the song is "essentially the DNA of In the Heights for me," Quiara says. Beneath the joy, there's a legacy of struggle and resilience. " 'Carnaval' unearths that history. All we have is our fight to be here together, the testimony to our spirit."

To help ensure that the number would remain in the movie, she hooked it into the plot more securely, situating it as a farewell number for the salon ladies, who have been priced out of the neighborhood. But the budget wasn't the only limiting factor. "Carnaval" is unique in requiring virtually every member of the cast to be present at the same time.

The actors' complicated schedules meant that Jon wouldn't get all the filming days he wanted. He would get only one.

Which meant it was time for the hard, slow, unglamorous legwork of moviemaking: planning, organizing, rehearsing, designing, equipping, and rehearsing some more-months of it, all to give themselves the best possible chance to "make the day," to film the whole gigantic number in the time available.

In the world of making movies, "day" is a flexible unit of time, especially for a scene that would be filmed outdoors- in this case, a courtyard between two apartment buildings around the corner from where Lin went to preschool. They scheduled the shoot for a Monday, when union rules would let them start the earliest. And they picked June 24, one of the longest days of the year.

They didn't realize it would also be one of the hottest.

The song would be filmed more or less in order. Which meant that for the production, as for the characters, the salon ladies would lead the way.

Some of the movie's actors were new to musicals. Not Daphne Rubin-Vega, who plays Daniela. When Rent blew the mind of seventeen-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, she was onstage, playing Mimi. But when she arrived for hair and makeup on "Carnaval" day-at 4:30 in the morning-even she was feeling nerves. The uneven concrete floor of the courtyard wasn't like where they had rehearsed. The prospect of filming a seven-page song before nightfall seemed crazy.

She began to hear a voice of doubt in her brain, one that's encoded in a specific ugly memory. After wrapping her first film, she had gone to the airport to fly home to New York and mentioned to the woman at the ticket counter that she had just acted in a movie.

"That's funny," said the woman, who Daphne believes to have been Latina like herself. "You don't look like an actress."

Worries about how they looked, questions about what they were wearing, a general feeling of negativity-Dascha Polanco was feeling them, too. She always loved arriving on set to play Cuca, one of Daniela's fellow salon ladies, because it felt so much like coming home. She was born in the Dominican Republic and while growing up in Brooklyn used to make frequent trips to the Heights with her friends. ("Washington Heights is a small Dominican Republic," she explains.) Now she, too, wondered if she belonged. Am I capable of remembering the steps? she asked herself.

She decided to stop those doubts-for herself and the other salon ladies. She grabbed the hands of Daphne and Stephanie Beatriz, who played Carla, and formed the women into a profane prayer circle.

"Shake that s--- off," she told them. "I'm not going to let anyone or anything interfere with my performance today."

Daphne laughs as she tells the story. "She was so hilarious and said we were going to protect each other from that insecurity. That was such a beautiful thing-going in there with that determination to represent."

By 5:30 A.M., when the sun rose over Queens, sixty dancers had arrived. Christopher Scott, the film's choreographer, tried to prepare them for what was coming, backed by his full team of associate choreographers: Emilio Dosal, Ebony Williams, and Dana Wilson, as well as associate Latin choreographer Eddie Torres, Jr., and assistant Latin choreographer Princess Serrano. By six A.M., dozens of crew members had joined them, making the thousand careful adjustments needed to help a movie look spontaneous.

It was almost nine A.M. by the time Jon called "Action." The cameras started rolling, Daphne started singing, and the clock kept ticking.

Arrange the actors, position the cameras, do a take, reset everybody, do it again. As the sun climbed higher that morning, the temperature rose to what one crew member estimated to be nine hundred degrees. Look closely-see the sweat on people's bodies? Most of it didn't come from the makeup department. But there wasn't time for extra breaks to cool off.

"Please be quiet," a voice on the loudspeaker boomed at one point. "We gotta go."

At one point that morning, Jimmy Smits got his turn to shine. Playing Kevin Rosario wasn't his first Height experience. He had seen the show Off-Broadway and been "blown away" by it, he says. He had offered to help in any way he could, eventually recording a radio ad for the show.

His devotion to Heights carried into rehearsals for the film. As they got underway, he told Chris Scott and the choreography team, "I know I'm playing the dad, but the last thing I want to see is myself in the background, just waving my hands. I want to go all in." They obliged him. He sometimes hobbled home from the dance studio to ice himself for hours.

His payoff came on "Carnaval" day. He had a featured moment in the song: an intricate, whirling combination. The cast and crew watched him do it again and again, cheering him on. He could feel "a lightning bolt of energy" around the set, something he'd experienced only rarely in his long career.

Over the applause after one take, a voice rang out, ricocheting off the walls: "That s--- was crazy! For our ancestors!" It was Anthony Ramos. He, too, had a long history with Heights, but it wasn't as happy as Jimmy's.

Very early in his career, he had tried to get cast as Sonny on the show's national tour. It meant taking a bus into Manhattan from a gig he was doing in New Jersey, going through round after round of auditions. At last he made it to the big moment: a callback in front of Tommy Kail, Alex Lacamoire, and Lin himself.

He gave the song everything he had. He didn't get the part.

He thought he'd missed the one chance he would get to work with Lin, the writer who'd evoked Anthony's own world, Latino New York, so beautifully on a Broadway stage. He needn't have worried. A few years later, the same guys would hire him to originate the roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton, Alexander's son, in Hamilton.

When Anthony got to know Tommy and Lac well enough, he asked if they remembered not casting him as Sonny. They said they did.

"You weren't ready yet," Lac said.

Anthony knew he was right. "Only a homie would tell you that," he says.

But he needed one more break to make his way back to Heights and find himself sweating in the courtyard that morning.

In 2018, Stephanie Klemons, an original cast member of both In the Heights and Hamilton, directed a production of Heights at the Kennedy Center in Washington. The night before rehearsals were set to begin, she lost an actor to an injury. She reached out to Anthony: Could he step in with zero notice?

He didn't feel physically or mentally ready, and was about to pass, but decided to do it. That's how he got a second chance to show Lin what he could do in Heights-not as Sonny this time, as Usnavi. In a series of tweets, reproduced on this page, Lin commemorated how overwhelmed he was watching Anthony step into the role he once played. He, Quiara, and Jon all agreed that when the cameras started rolling, Anthony should be their Usnavi.

The bond between Anthony and Lin added to the drama of filming "Carnaval." Lin played Piragua Guy, so he was in the courtyard, too-or, rather, directly above it, on a fire escape. It meant that the whole cast and crew had a clear view of the brief duet that he and Anthony sing in the middle of the number. To people who knew their history, the sight made time go all swirly. Anthony had originated the role of Lin's son in Hamilton, and now he was playing the role that Lin had originated, and somehow the two of them were singing a duet in Washington Heights.

A quirk of the production process made the moment even stranger and more potent. All day, the actors had been singing along to prerecorded versions of "Carnaval" piped over the loudspeakers. But somehow they hadn't gotten around to recording Anthony's side of his duet, so they had to fall back on the only other version on hand: the Broadway cast album. Which meant that Lin wasn't just singing with Anthony that day, he was harmonizing with himself at age twenty-eight, when every bit of what was happening around him would have seemed like a ludicrous dream. "It was like time travel," Lin says.

By three p.m., when everybody had returned from their lunch break-blood sugar bolstered by the ice cream truck that Stephanie Beatriz had hired-time was growing shorter, the day hotter. Now when choreographer Chris Scott talked to the dancers, many listened with hands on hips, hands on knees.

From his fire escape, Lin did his bit to keep up morale. He joined in the clapping that broke out between scenes; he made silly faces; he pulled up his shirt and did belly rolls. Guests watched from the edges of the shoot: Lin's dad and wife, Quiara's sister, Chris's mom, Anthony's sister and mom. Anna Wintour stopped by.

Jon is not the type to direct through a bullhorn, barking orders from the shade. When they'd filmed "96,000" earlier that month on a couple of unseasonably frigid days, he had jumped in the Highbridge Park pool with the cast.

On this day, he darted around the courtyard, giving notes to actors, framing shots, conferring with Alice. He is also not the type to speak in mystical terms, but when he thinks back on that day, he remembers "the sun shining down like a laser-it was like the sun was shining out of everybody."

By late afternoon, the boundary between the make-believe world of the movie and the real world of the shoot had all but melted away. They had reached the part of the song where Usnavi and Daniela try to call forth their neighbors' pride in where they come from. Anthony climbed onto a picnic table and faced the whole cast, rapping, "Can we sing so loud and raucous they can hear us across the bridge in East Secaucus?" Daphne stood near him, arms wide apart, raising them up, willing everybody to stand tall, to keep going.

Both of them were throwing all their skill and commitment into their performances, the stars of two of Broadway's epoch-making musicals doing what they had trained to do. But they also weren't acting.

"To raise the flag for your country, to dance and recognize that we're all here together, and belong here, we don't need to be forgiven for it, or ashamed for it," says Daphne of what she was feeling. "There's a pride in being here from Colombia, or Panama, the D.R., Puerto Rico, Cuba, wherever."

At eight o'clock, with the sun sinking toward New Jersey, the dancers were still dancing. Eleven hours had passed since Daphne had belted out "Hey!" to start the song. Now Jon was trying to get the right take of sixty-plus voices shouting "Hey!" to finish it. In the movie version of the scene, the blackout ends when the song does, so a voice on the loudspeaker would announce, "The power's on!" That's how the actors knew the right moment to cheer that it was over.

After one such cheer, it really was over. Not just the take-the song.

They had done it. They had made the day.

Jon jumped into a swarm of dancers. (Ever see a baseball player hit a walk-off home run, then leap onto home plate into the waiting arms of his cheering teammates? That's what this jump looked like.) People were clapping and shouting and hugging and crying. Alice thought the whole thing was a miracle.

"You know when you see people at a concert cry, and you're like, 'I would never do that'?" asks costume designer Mitchell Travers. "That's what I did." He thinks it's the most sheer human energy he has ever been close to.

Anthony Ramos, in the middle of the crowd, launched into a speech. He can't remember his exact words. He hadn't planned what he was going to say-he hadn't planned to speak at all. He just felt that something needed to be said.

"I might have said, today we made history," he recalls. "This was for our ancestors who didn't get the opportunity to do this-who were fighting to have a chance to do what we just did. It was for love of the culture. It was for our kids, who look like us, to be able to see themselves on the big screen, to see us singing about our pride. Some s--- like that."

Somewhere in the crowd stood Dascha Polanco, cheering with the rest. She was sweaty, tired, tear-streaked-and beginning to feel the spirit move.

"I looked down and saw that concrete floor," she says, "and I saw those fire escapes up there, and I was like, 'New York.' "

She began a chant. It was slow and pitched low: "N-e-e-e-e-w York, N-e-e-e-e-w York." In seconds, the whole crowd took it up. "N-e-e-e-e-w York! N-e-e-e-e-w York!"

They were pointing to the sky. They were dancing.

"N-e-e-e-e-w York! N-e-e-e-e-w York!"

"It wasn't like chanting, 'Oh, I love New York,' " Anthony says later-meaning it wasn't a casual thing someone would casually say. "It was"-he drops his voice an octave and leans in-"I motherf---ing love New York. I'm proud to be from New York. I'm proud to be Latino from New York. That was the chant."

Lin, on his fire escape, was overwhelmed. Quiara, in the courtyard, guessed that people could hear them all chanting for blocks around. "It was the sound of joy and survival," she says. "And the sound of people who were really proud to be artists in community together-all our stories braided and interwoven at that one moment."

The long months of preparation had yielded the thing that movie people dream of creating: the burst of real emotion, the flash of genuine spontaneity. Some of it infuses what you see in the finished version of the song, but some of it can't be recovered now. It's an experience only for the people who got to be part of that impromptu celebration, the carnaval that followed "Carnaval."

That long day and its joyous finale capture, in miniature form, a lot of the Heights experience-what's powerful about it, what's rare. Instead of expecting little from the actors it featured, Heights demanded everything-not just what they could do, but who they were and where they came from. By fusing them with dozens of other artists making the same commitment, it gave them the feeling that Lin had wanted so badly for himself when he started writing the show: a sense of belonging, of being part of a group of people working toward a goal they all hold dear. That's why Anthony, looking back on filming "Carnaval," says, "That was one of the greatest days of my life. Period. If I never do another movie again, I did this."

"Something that arises in 'Carnaval' is a feeling of, 'There's a place for us,' " says Quiara. "But the place is not one that says, 'Oh, I definitely fit in' or 'I definitely don't.' It holds those questions. It allows those questions to exist."

Those questions, she has come to see, are universal.

"People are like, 'What is my place in the world?' That question is actually part of your place in the world," she says. "There's something about In the Heights. It takes such a burden off to hear, 'Yeah, there's a place for you. Here it is.'"

#in the heights #ith movie #in the heights - the movie #spoilers #ith spoilers #sorry - super long post #long post #but I needed the whole text here because it's fucking BEAUTIFUL #and I don't want it to vanish!!!#carnival del barrio

4 notes · View notes

keepingupwithlinmanuel · 4 years

Text

Lin-Manuel Miranda shares the most shocking moment from HBO doc Siempre, Luis

Lin-Manuel, you and your dad are so close. Did you learn anything new about him?

LMM: [Laughs] I'll tell you, we did a family screening of the documentary the last time we were all in Puerto Rico around the end of last year. And the biggest reaction that the family had was when a picture of Luis' first wife showed up. Everyone went, "Whoa!" He was married for six months when he was 18, and she's not really been a part of our lives in any way. In that part, me and my cousins from my generation, our minds were blown that that was part of the story. It was fun to watch that big reveal play out.

LM: [Laughs] It was a big reveal, but even though it was part of the narrative, it wasn't a big part of our lives. I'll always remember when Lin-Manuel was at the Richard Rodgers Theatre with In the Heights, my first wife went to see the show. She lives in Chicago now. I remember hearing a voice that said, "Luisito!" I am only called Luisito by people from my town in Vega Alta, so I knew it had to be someone from way back in the past, and it turned out to be her. I had the chance to introduce her to my wife of 43 years, Luz, and Lin-Manuel.

In Siempre, Luis, you are surrounded by powerful women, specifically in the political arena, where you lift up female candidates. Why is this important to you?

LM: When I became the chair for the Latino Victory Fund a couple of years ago, the first thing we did was to declare the year of Latinas. We went all over the country and recruited an amazing slate of Latinas to run, and we ended up with some amazing mujeres in Congress. We need more gender diversity in politics. I'm very proud to have been able to be a part of that movement.

Lin-Manuel, when you announced you'd be taking Hamilton to Puerto Rico in support of Hurricane Maria relief efforts, it was met with resistance from the University of Puerto Rico students. Why did you include this?

LMM: That scene in particular was included because that was part of the conversation. We said we would meet with the UPR students, and we had an hourlong conversation with them. The protest was five minutes of that, but it was an important part of that. The university is hurting as a result of these policies, so it was important that we hear them out.

The release of Hamilton on Disney+ in July was also met with criticism, which you received and discussed. Why is that important to you?

LMM: Releasing Hamilton was to give people a reminder of how powerful live theater can be at a moment where there is no live theater anywhere in the United States other than virtual theater. I was really proud that we were able to do that. But I'm also keenly aware of what didn't make it into the two-and-a-half hour musical I wrote. These guys had complicated lives, and they were all flawed. I know what's on the cutting room floor. When I have to cut stuff like that because I'm trying to write this show, what I told myself was, "What was the starting point for conversation?" It's an entry point to say, "Yes, Washington owned slaves," etc. Hamilton allows for those types of conversations to happen because, without it we aren't talking about those guys in the same way. I have to embrace [the criticisms] as a starting point for more conversations.

#lin manuel miranda #luis miranda #entertainment weekly #siempre luis #hamilton

25 notes · View notes

96thdayofrage · 3 years

Text

Hollywood and Broadway need to realize that you can tell the stories of people of color without whitewashing or blackwashing them. Real life, if not yet reel life, is already kaleidoscopically diverse.

Of course, this assumes these agents of cultural production want to tell these stories. Their answer, however, seems to be that as artists it is not their mission to tell the stories of people of color but to tell universal, human ones. This implies that the stories of people of color are not, or as British author Nikesh Shula has observed, “White people think that people of color only have ethnic experiences and not universal experiences.” Evidently so do some people of color.

The colorism controversy surrounding the lack of Afro Latinx representation in the Hollywood version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights is recent but not new. As Ishmael Reed pointed out in his 2019 critique of Miranda’s Hamilton, in addition to glorifying its titular slaveholding hero and the Founding Fathers as a whole, it fails to present the voices of the “Native Americans, slaves, and white indentured servants” they victimized, voices Reed himself would subsequently include in his play “The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda.”

In response to such criticism, Miranda generously conceded his limitations, while still defending his melanated whitewash of American history: “All the criticisms are valid,” he tweeted, adding, “The sheer tonnage of complexities & failings of these people [the Founding Fathers] I couldn’t get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took 6 years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5 hour musical.” The implication: the oppressive weight of these complex individuals somehow justifies jettisoning acknowledgement of the reality of their failing as slaveholding white supremacists.

In an interview with Reuters, Miranda once again invokes “tonnage” to defend his film: “To be quaint would be a dream come true. No one movie can encompass the sheer tonnage of stories we have to offer.” But “tonnage” vision may not be the only reason for the film’s failure to see Afro Latinx people. (Ironically, the Reuters interview begins with the observation that Miranda is “hoping [his] musical In the Heights changes the conversation in Hollywood about the wider appeal of such movies, just as Crazy Rich Asians did in 2018.”)

Jon M. Chu, the film’s director, provides another, noting that while the casting of Afro Latinx people was “discussed,” “in the end, when we were looking at the cast, we tried to get people who were the best for those roles.”

The sentiment is echoed by Melissa Barrera, one of the film’s white passing Latina: “I think it’s important to note though that in the audition process, which was a long audition process, there were a lot of Afro Latinos there, a lot of darker-skinned people. I think they were looking for just the right people for the roles, for the person that embodied each character in the fullest extent.”

Certainly, Miranda and Chu were aware that the film’s casting did not accurately reflect the racial demographics of Washington Heights, any more than the cast of Hamilton reflects the racial composition of the Founding Fathers. (Read another way, the dark-skinned Afro Latinx Dominican community of the Heights were the wrong people to be represented in a film about their own community.) But Hamilton’s oxymoronic, color-conscious colorblind casting is intentional. A similar intentionality cannot be read into In the Heights, and not just the movie version. (One wonders how the original Broadway musical addressed these issues during its 2008-2011 run: Were dark-skinned Afro Latinx people represented any better? Sadly, it seems colorism plagued these productions as well.

This is unfortunate, since just as Hamilton whitewashed the emotional, financial, and intellectual investment of the founding fathers in slavery and genocide, the film adaptation of In the Heights opts to omit the reality of colorism within communities of color, an issue that was suggested, albeit fleetingly, in the original Broadway production in which the father of Nina, a light-skinned Afro Latina, disapproves of her black, non-Latinx lover Benny. (Not only is this subplot excised from the film, but the romance between the two characters has also been truncated and Benny’s overall role in the film reduced.). In fact, Miranda decided to remove this suggestion of racism from the film, telling the LA Times, The film “isn’t about the parental disapproval of this interracial relationship because we wanted to focus on the specifics of the racial microaggressions Nina faced at Stanford, which Benny very much understands and has her back on. So it didn’t make sense for her to be fighting that war on two fronts.” What Miranda fails to appreciate is that battles against racism and its handmaiden colorism are swaged simultaneously on multiple fronts and that his own film’s conscious attempt to minimize these conflicts may itself be interpreted as a not so micro microaggression.

What makes the current conversation about colorism even more remarkable, is that we’ve had it before. This is not the first time Chu has been criticized for colorism. In 2018, when the Singapore-based Crazy Rich Asians was released, it was criticized there for not accurately portraying that nation’s diversity. The film’s leads are light-skinned East Asians, those in subservient roles are dark-skinned Southeast Asians. As Singapore journalist Kirsten Han, put it, “The focus is specifically on characters and faces of East Asian descent, which plays into issues of racism and colorism that still exist, not only in the U.S. but Asia.”

Responding to his critics, Chu told a press conference, “We decided very early on that this is not the movie to solve all representation issues. This is a very specific world, very specific characters. This is not going to solve everything.” Now, three years later, Chu has directed another film about a specific world and specific characters that excludes specifically dark-skinned people, creating more problems than those it was not intended to solve.

Still, Hollywood has had plenty of opportunities to clean up its act, only to squander them[3] as it deliberately continues to erase people of color from their own lived narratives. The film 21 (2008), based on a true story about a group of MIT students gaming the tables in Vegas, replaces Jeffrey Ma, a Chinese American, with a white character renamed Ben Campbell, while the rest of the real Asian American members of the blackjack team are similarly whitewashed. In an interview with The Tech, Ben Mezrich, author of Bringing Down the House, the book on which the film is based, said that he had been told by a studio executive involved in the casting that “most of the film’s actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female.” In Stuck (2007), based on another real life incident, this one involving a black woman who accidently hits and kills a homeless man with her car, not only does the main character undergo a name and race change, but, adding insult to injury, the film’s race-switched white female lead sports cornrows.

Fictional characters of color are also subjected to whitening. In 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), the sequel to2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Bob Balaban is cast as Dr. R. Chandra, the creator of the sentient supercomputer HAL 9000, quite a departure from the Dr. Chandra, a.k.a. Dr. Sivasubramnian Chandrasegaram Pillai, of Arthur C. Clarke’s original novels. In the film Wanted, based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar and J.G. Jones, The Fox, a character physically modeled on Halle Berry, is played by Angelina Jolie. Reuben St. Clair, the black social studies teacher featured in the novel Pay it Forward (2005), in the film becomes white Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey). Presumably, in the eyes of the filmmakers all these actors were “the best fit for the role,” even where the race and the names of the characters they portray were changed to accommodate them. If the shoe fits – alter it.

Movies, television and Broadway shows are entertainments not history (though they can be both). To be sure, actors should be given leeway to practice their craft, and escapist histories can provide a means of critically reexamining contemporary constructions of race and being (see for example, Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad). But such imaginative excursions devolve into extravagant indulgence when they substitute for or impede the production of stories that attempt to engage history, particularly history that has been erased by what Reed calls the “Historical Establishment.”

Sure, in the eyes of producers, a film about Anne Boleyn will capture a greater audience share than one about Sojourner Truth. A film about Boleyn starring a black woman could potentially outperform them both, if only because of the controversy it will generate. After all, Boleyn is a known quantity, a brand, a bankable historical commodity. Truth is not, at least to the gatekeepers of popular historical dramaturgy. As history, Gone with the Wind (1939) is irredeemable trash. Yet, for many, both in America and abroad, it offers, like its predecessor The Birth of a Nation (1915), a distorted vision of past American greatness.[3] As for Hamilton, aside from the entertaining irony of turning the melanophobic Founding Fathers into people of color, it tells us nothing meaningful about either but a lot about the marketability of sanitized history, just as In the Heights’s erasure of an entire darkly pigmentated community of color from its own storytells us all too much about our present.

4 notes · View notes